Poetry: KUMBAYA by Romeo Oriogun

I cannot make this up.

Sunlight sneak behind dark curtains

& you sit up, say the light is here again.

The streets hum with voices,

vehicles run into the rising sun,

my neighbor press her ear against the wall

to hear the voice of heaven

falling from a mouth made beautiful by sin.

I want to find home in the rooms of your veins,

allow you carry me as you flee into the day,

as you look back to stop your shadow from holding my hands.

In your room, your father smashes our bones against the wall,

our blood mingle, sing kumbaya as it streaks into the rug.

Tell me this is not love,

tell me this is not how couples run into sunsets,

Tell me this is not the universe saying love is eternal

to two bodies traveling through the sea as salt,

two bodies sitting on sands

in a map that doesn’t die.

He digs me out of your stomach.

He says, no son of mine is going to be a faggot.

I allow light preserve me, I allow it slash me into songs

traveling through the forest softly as dew.

Here’s my body, take it.

Here’s my song searching for space within your lips,

open, sing it.

When they came for me with knives and sticks,

I became songs falling through rain.

Do not be afraid, I will always be here.

Just step into the wet sky,

open your mouth, sing,

sing baby.

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Read: DEPARTURE by Romeo Oriogun here