“from the window of this slow train” by Oluwatobi Ezekiel Poroye

you see mothers strap babies
to their backs, lull the sun to
a cradle of dusk as they fill
the air with cooking rhymes.

you see kids kite innocence in 
the sky. some others ride bliss 
on tires down a street where
boys play plastic balls & men
take turns to move seeds, anti-
clockwise round the dozen 
holes of a carved wooden box.  

you see roosters return to 
their shed as the sky starts to
darken with cloud of nocturnals.
sheep in their flock bleat
to their owners’ compounds.

King Sunny Ade’s the good shepherd
blares from a distance. you reminisce 
your parents peering onto the road on cold 
nights awaiting your arrival from a journey.

you see memories race
in the direction of home. of a longing
already crushed by cross-fire of bullets.
a wind that ferried your waiting family
to a place of ruin; before your arrival. 

***

Oluwatobi Ezekiel Poroye is a poet, teacher and economist. He explores concept of home, leaving, grief, silence. His works have been published on Perhappened Mag, LibrettoNg, Burning House Press and elsewhere. He is a Best of the Net nominee. He writes from somewhere in Ogun, Nigeria.