Time has blown you away from me
like strong winds,
I hope you don't forget
how we flee father's roof
and endured shames and hope
but mother has tried
was it easy for a woman!
why do you have to go?

It seems like it was only yesterday
when we were kids
you held my hands
helped me to the Teacher, next day
Teacher helped me to the classroom
Classroom brightens my darkest room.

Weren't I stubborn!
because I born boy
going after life's toy
but you shared your daily corn
to even our despisers
who called us bastards
I was a timeless fighter!
with a Divine lighter.

You continuously structured my head
towards the sky
that I may only see but the blue sky
you beat my head
that I may hear
and become the future's head.

We're the only surviving birds
the hope of the tree.

Unfulfilled they decapitated you
like a plantation with the sucker
I feared too!
seeking for the invader
God saves too a traitor.

Dirge was a gift
elegy like a portrait
hanging on the wall
weeping to the well.

© Okpohoudeme Promise Ita