still photo in a room with Adejoke

i was still bleeding. you dragged

my body out of water & blessed me.

i love you for it. you kissed me colors &

plastered my open wrist.

i saw you in a dream

where you dragged me out of fire but

i woke tired of being a victim.

i plucked a flower off my wrist

& give it to my grandmother’s ghost.

at the creation of this fallible body

i was as pure as a lamb.

the shepherd, a clenched fist,

fed my spirit with stones.

all i know is that i am rock

held inside a sea.

if you love me, please kiss me

& let me go, all

the birds i carry are dead.

i keep waking inside a stranger’s tomb.

nothing is capable of healing

a basket of its inability to hold rain but a metaphor.

my body tremors before you,

saying, please pray for me!


Also by Adedayo Agarau

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