The Unfinished Verses

Segun Agbaje

I
It is easy to forget
That the darkness is both night and morning.

Maybe I am not sturdy enough
And my back will break under the weight of promise
Maybe I carry a basket of courage in my dreams
Ripe and fresh from the farm that fed father,
And his father, and his father
But when I wake, my arms bear nothing but the silence of my youth
Words stuck to the roof of my mouth
And actions to the tip of my fingers and the heels of my feet
So instead of writer, savior, messiah
They call me wanderer. They call me barren.
I promised orchards of plums and roses
But all there is of me is dust, and skin,
(Which will eventually be dust.)
I juxtapose dream and reality
And all I see is a flood
Where is the promise that water won’t drown love
That scorn won’t follow sorrow
That forgiveness comes when you have peeled
all that is left of your decay,
allowing the salt of the ocean to wash you clean.

II
And remember that a rose is what a man says it is.

There are days I have to remind myself
That I am beautiful
That the stars are watching and praying
I keep my glow.
There are days I have to remind myself
That I am lucky
That the air in my lungs is promise
The blood in my veins is hope.
There are days I have to remind myself
To be different
Love like it’s my last
Forgive like I’ve never been hurt.
There are days I have to remind myself
That my road and journey are for a reason
And rest comes when I find my home.

III
Waters, they redeem
And people are waters:
Liquid salvation washing up against ruined shores

Truth be told
I sold my soul for coins
Each piece fetching a 100 silver
And I also gave tongue, heart and liver
Till I gave her more riches than flows in this river
More tears than the Jordan has seen

But
I will not sail down the river
With the hoards of philistines or pharaohs;
of gods or men
I will slave away at the earth
Till it cracks open and bleeds red
(Where is the water to quench my thirst?).

The hoe marks on the ground
Complete the mandate branded on my back
By the iron of my King
“…Till there is water for your soul.”

About the author: I am a sea searching for itself and a river trying to find its depth. I am also an Economist, a writer and a friend.

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