O breezy smile you create for me
A world that stayed with patience
beyond time.
I do not need to worry out patience
as I wait out this sweet pain
on the edge of this world.
The Texas heat too, even the humidity
and pattern of repressed air
is precisely the same as broke my heart.
For time passing —now I am sure of something!
Something will be ours, but what?
Was it whenever we feel like hope?
In the wide-open sky? What message?
In our hopes and dreams, dear God,
the lights on the dark horizon got out.
Now I’m sure of something. Today.
The air. Blank heart. The alphabet
of scribbling memories. Tell me
the implications of the traffic light.
The truth about its binary nature,
calibrating our movements, pricking
our conscience. We stopped on red.
The banes of impatience in our head,
the green light buzzing, echoed from
a green-throated metal panel. Move.
I have lost the directions waiting on Google.
The street names hidden.
The streets were wide and narrow,
like unknown tombstones in unmarked
cemetery, the grey inscriptions were
as muffled as any burnished ornament
on the gilded tombs of frozen kings.
I have found the address in between stones.
♦ Dr. Chris Ulasi is in the Editorial Board of the West African Pilot News. Copyright © 2019
