Àbèfé by Oladele Taiwo Oluwaseyi

I have inked my tears, I have weeped sad words

I have shred sheets of my heart and my being

I have crossed trueness for refined sweetness in words

I have penned odes and lores dumped in bins

…

In the hood of my child days, I felt a rush

In my first tenths I dreamed sweet torrents

In my youth, lived the dream and felt the pang

In my dying days, the times I’d revel

…

Here’s my heart with crimson tears dripping

Here’s the proof, the feel, the sight and rhythm

…

Àbèfé;

When the world is on fire, we’d sail to the moon

And wander hand in hand; the solstices

And from the heavens, we’d pee rains on man

And on the walls of paradise, we’d scribble our names

…

When the pool dense in the cloud chills,

we’d tan at the foot of the sun unclad

And play hide and seek with the Angels

And build ice castles in heaven’s courtyard

And our glee will echo the halls of God’s manor

And snuggle under His regal floating robe

…

I have fore-played dreams and fantasies

Fore the days I found the keys to my heart

For forever is a dream I dream fortnightly

And fortune is not complete without (yo)u

Four days, weeks, four months, years; till I’m forty

Or forged in bones in the comfort of my tomb

For a fish drowns still without the sea

For you are my world, my dream and my sea

 

 

*ÀBÈFÉ – A Yoruba name for someone dear