ONCE UPON A KISS (I)
in the dim and distant past four fledgling lips
at a tryst assuaging their thirst
searing sentimental secrets felt only
through dark tunnels of their throats
in the dim and distant past through
darksome tunnel of the throat we
shared unspoken secrets
you and i
four fledgling lips
i couldn’t go further
that’s why you called me names
forgetting
trust made in lust will rust in dust
once upon your kiss
and you set my flesh on fire
does love behave indecently?
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ONCE UPON A KISS (II)
once upon a time there was your shadow
reflecting on the window
in the candle-lit room
with your neck-crushing embrace enveloping me
for moments i stood motionless
and began to dance to your love-wantintin tune
that sounds deeper and bitter
now in my soul
if promises were deeds you’d be dean of lovers
you and i know better
what has happened to my door?
what has happened to my yard?
what has happened to those innocent flowers
you touched and trampled?
once upon a time i was in your bosom
with iridescent blue eyes envisioning love
in your lust i was lost.
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TEARS
time hurts when we wait
expecting you’ll be here with the
wind’s whisper
tears teardrops tears drop and never stop
as the heat of longing harasses our
psyche of persecuted passion
fractures of fragile feeling in faded
face of forlorn future
shrunken silence of unsung tragedies
time heals when it’s past
eternal future suddenly made present
just the marks of time left as reminders
in empty space of filled minds
tears teardrops tears drop and never stop
hurting healer when shall these tears
be in your skin-bottle?
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TONGUE OF CURRENCY
in the resplendence of his opulence
he bursts into a rapture of tongues
similitude of esoteric cant
rupee ruble riyal rupiah renminbi
torrent of currencies cascading from the tip
of the money-twisted tongue and again
the tongue turns in foreign torrent of tongues of currencies
peso peseta dinar drachma lira franc deutschmark
yen dollar pound-sterling cedi
he pauses as his greedy ogling eyes venture into space
relating vision of more currencies
won krone guilder shekel
a rapture of spittle he tries to stifle
a man who had all in palatial places
but speaking in state asylum
as he chirps aha aha he ends his pecuniary cant
in naira and kobo.
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‘CHRISTMAS GIFT’
after eighteen moons in nuptial chamber
God wrung this Oluwaseyi
a bouncing baby boy bundle of bliss
mama seyi thanked the Giver
harmattan degree fahrenheit
read the temperature in december
and seyi was down with hundred and one
so soon life was done in him
the terminator was implacable like the
sun that must go down…
women willingly wailed and men also cried
why me God? the mother asked
inconsolable woman
every good gift and perfect present
comes from above
may the Giver console you before next harmattan.
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Poems (c) Adebayo Akinloye