Dire francis – KAYODE
Dear Kayode my lover,
How do I metaphorize your love?
Holding you and leaning on you,
Kissing and looking into your eyes,
Without caring that Mama was watching,
Standing at the door with her long stick.
Dear Kayode my lover,
Should I still trust your love from the bush,
Where you made me feel like a woman,
Not minding that I gave you what’s considered precious,
Pricking ourselves with a needle to prove our love,
Even when Mama had warned me severally about you.
Dear Kayode my lover,
You didn’t take me with you when leaving for Lagos,
You didn’t come, even after we planned to meet under that tree,
I still go there, hoping to see you there one day,
And stay there from dawn till dusk,
Even when Mama comes to flog me to go to the farm,
I waited like a stubborn fly, waiting to follow the corpse to the grave.
Dear Kayode my lover,
I was sick and mama said I’m pregnant,
I haven’t seen my August visitor in a while,
So I guess she’s right, we’re having our first baby,
But you’re not here to give me support,
Mama threw me out of the house and called me a slut.
Dear Kayode my lover,
I saw you when the midwife said push,
I leaned on your unforeseen strength as I birthed our child,
I named him Kayode because he looks exactly like you,
I never forget to tell him about you, and our love,
Dotting the I’s and crossing the T’s till he crossed twenty-one.
Dear Kayode my lover,
I am dancing bata as our son is getting married,
I never forgot to go to our sacred tree,
Where I wish to die and be buried, as my final wish,
Kayo’s children are playing in the compound,
Yet I never lost hope of seeing you again.
Dear Kayode my lover,
I am now six feet into the ground,
My corpse now decomposed by the worms,
If ever you look for me,
I am at that tree, sleeping while waiting for you,
Don’t forget to bring my favorite flowers, I’ll be waiting.
© Dire Francis
