Tag Archive for: Adamu Usman Garko

Tuesday Poem by Adamu Usman Garko

A Kind of Dying

When I said I miss you
I meant the glistening beauty of your face
& the gripping warmth of your embrace
& the brook within your cleavage
from which, I, thirsty,
drink out my misery.

When I said I miss you
I meant your mellifluous voice,
the cadence of your soft words
& the intensity with which you revolt,
hymns of my paradise.

Your silence is a dark hole
into which I am swallowed whole.

When I said I miss you
I meant the dark mist of your irises
in them, stars that tickle my belly butterflies.
I meant your suppleness,
the ripe roundness of your cheeks.

I miss the way you trample on my heart
& make it skip a beat.
I miss how my blood clots,
how my lymph boils &
my breath becomes steam,
wafting with your fragrance.

When I said I miss you
I meant all memories have been
woven into a skein of longings,
frayed at the edges.

When I said I miss you
I meant I miss living
because living without you is
a kind of dying.