threnody

i scribble in my face, my father_ who found strands of 

my hair in the teeth of my comb,

i remembered when he sewn in the heap in my yard, roses,

bougainvilleas, hibiscuses with their sprouts and petals of reds & pinks.

but that night, he breathed hope into the tomb in which he entombed his face,

his face, kissing the grains of sands & i wrote him a threnody_ a poem, a requiem

which he carries on the crucifix around his neck.

that night, i engraved my face in the mirror which hangs on his tomb, 

i kissed the brittle that lurks there, i knelt & prayed for his portrait to fade

from the lines of my poem.

About the Poet

Tajudeen Muadh Akanbi, Lightening pen X is a poet from Nigeria, he’s a one time winner of elite writing contest and his works are forthcoming or appearing on different literary magazines like agbowo, lolwe, eboquills, salamander ink and elsewhere.