Earth to riven bark, earth of litanies

A rift in spirit-roots leans beyond

Heavy mists on human tides, fashion

Death in kernel for vagrant bowls

Of cruel longing, a fine vision of

Hunger when the sky explodes,

Let an earth’s entangled blemish

Seal their storm

They, Night-Chanter, through

Grim shadows of the numb, strange

Dirge of deserters, wine on primal ache

Of lone imposed – let swallows from a

Distant shore, not spell fashions of mouths,

Flap the moon’s garment in naked

Oblation before the weary eyes

Against a bereaved earth,

Let tears from a coursing stalk

Bath their pulses in warm intrusion

Of your feeble splendour.

Let a passing red dawn.

_________

Oyin Oludipe loves to ponder in the dark, enjoy Asa’s soulful songs and write about the human struggle for constant relevance. He is a young Nigerian writer, tweets from @Sir_Muell.