Come Back To Me

Your eyes, your eyes...

They are so far away
So distant, so far away
Open, seeing nothing
Roving some distant lands

And here you are
Right beside me
Holding my hands
Closer than my skin
Yet a thousand mile apart

The burdens you call your own
You never have to bear alone
Come back here
Where ever you are
Come back to me

The Story Of The Twenty-One Beads

Yesterday

She walks in beauty like a night
Of cloudless climes and starry skies
And all that's best of dark and bright
Meet in her aspect and her eyes
Now, twenty quaint beads adorn
The swinging rhythm of her waist
No more the little girl of dawn
Hours flew past in haste



 
Today,

Hundreds of papers and rivers of inks
Woefully failed their noble duty
In describing her radiant beauty
And the magic that happens when she blinks
One more bead slides down the cord
Kissed the twentieth and whispered a word
We lost another girl to the women I say
It’s the third of September today

3rd of September 2011

©Olaniyan Adewale Prince

For Funmi Aruwajoye, on the event of her initiation into ‘womanhood’. Wish you many more beads.

FAMILIAR STRANGERS

I smile at you from inches away

I stretch my hands, caress your face

But my heart can’t reach that far.

I keep telling myself I know you,

I know you! I swear I do!

Time and again you prove me wrong.

A lot has changed, it seems.

Like the peeling layers of an onion

The wrappers are all on the floor now

Stark naked for the first time

I behold my present… unpacked

I meet you… I meet the real you.

I knew a girl once

Soft as a whisper

Sweet as a flower

I fell in love with her

Pure as the morning dew

She looked a lot you

I wonder if she is in there…

Behind this mask I behold

In there, somewhere, hidden

Within this shell I hold...

I wonder if she is reaching

Reaching out to me...

Not Today!

 I have courted the lioness

The feral graceful cat,

And in all her prowess

I have won her heart

Or so I think

She walks me proudly

Before her kind

Silenced many a hungry howl

Froze many a greedy growl

With but a single scowl

She took meat from her gangs

My hunger to atone

Caressed me with her fangs

On a bed of rotten bones

My rivals in envy watched

I looked deep into her eyes

Steaming cauldron of tender love

Loads of brutal strength for spice

In those blood curdling stuff

I clearly saw my fear

One day, I may be waking

Not in the warmth of her embrace

One day, I may be waking

In the warmth of her belly

One day... but not today

Together Once Again!

 

We meet again my long lost friend

Oh! How lean you have grown!

You come for me my wounds to tend

In spite of everything I’ve done

All I have left are tiny little traces

Painful memories of all the fun

In the solace of your embraces

Time will pass and I will heal

I fell in love or so I thought

I willingly gave all I’ve got

And As if that wasn’t enough

You know the way it is with love

I found a way to give some more

To you my friend I closed my door

You couldn’t our laughter share

Our love songs you couldn’t bear

How it pains my heart tonight

That the friend that stands by me

When all else neglect my plight

Is the one I gave for free

In exchange for just one kiss

Together once again… my friend and I

Just like it’s been in time past

I pray this union does not last

Together once again… Loneliness and I

Innocence

 

Laughter so true, heart so whole

Pure as gold, Eyes of a clear soul

...the eyes of a smiling baby

Blissful ignorance, blind trust

Till I met curiosity as I must

It built a longing in my heart

It led me down a lonely path

In the eyes of the moon and stars

Curiosity built a fire in my eyes

Like the glint in the eyes of the wise

Maybe we went too far

Maybe we crossed that line

Now, nothing is just black or white

Now, I see various shades of gray

A shadow across my heart

Like a word hastily spoken

Like an egg easily broken

Innocence vanished

Like smoke in the darkness of night

Like shadows in the presence of light

Wearing this mask that grin and lies

Hides my guilt and shades my eyes

I crave for the “me” I used to know

How does one unlearn alone

That which is already known

I see everyone wears this mask

I wonder if the thought bugs you too

In spite of this sweet but plastic smile

If you crave the "you" before the fall

If you miss the "you" you used to know