on arriving to the room lit
with smiles, open palms,
we cried of joy — that after
a long sojourn in a dark country,
the red sea finally ferried us home.
morning dons the pride of
a bride in her bridal outfit.
we reach out to it as though
we're a cathedral in waiting.
& the carnival starts.
guns making fireworks
bullets thorning butterflies
the sky taking an offering of souls.
when home drags you to a boat
or train or truck, you learn that
home is not a building but
a journey for survival.
we suit our broken ribcages,
brief all our dreams into cases
as we become mobile maps
traversing desolate borders.
with smiles, open palms,
we cried of joy — that after
a long sojourn in a dark country,
the red sea finally ferried us home.
morning dons the pride of
a bride in her bridal outfit.
we reach out to it as though
we're a cathedral in waiting.
& the carnival starts.
guns making fireworks
bullets thorning butterflies
the sky taking an offering of souls.
when home drags you to a boat
or train or truck, you learn that
home is not a building but
a journey for survival.
we suit our broken ribcages,
brief all our dreams into cases
as we become mobile maps
traversing desolate borders.
Oluwatobi Ezekiel Poroye is an economist, teacher and poet. His works explore the concept of home and leaving, silence, grief and adulthood in Africa. He writes somewhere in Ogun, Nigeria.