I yearn to win on this soil from which I was formed,
Just before I return to the One who created me.
I do not want to be like a fruit-bearing tree,
One watered during every season,
But fails to deliver at harvest time.
Great pain the farmer must feel!
I want to be like the trees that shed during Autumn,
Leaves that change their colours in due time,
The ones that are in alignment with their season.
Even if I do not get to happen,
Let me be the lightning that brightens the sky,
One that shows up regardless of the rains.
I have drilled my insides, carved out what is in me,
Ready to lead and to be seen,
With no part of me appearing gloomy.
I do not want to be okay with being just a glimpse,
I want to be the full view;
Bright and clear, not flickering nor bleary.
I hope that my maker is happy at the end,
When I go to meet Him.
I hope that my soil continues to snowball,
That my footprints may forever be seen,
So that the ones who come after me,
Would see how to live.
—
Toluwani Oke or a•w•d•y as she likes to be called thinks herself a writer before anything else. She is a student in the Department of Microbiology at Obafemi Awolowo University. She is skilled in the world of poetry, prose, and other spheres of literature, and she is adept at distilling the essence of art, nature, people, and places through words. She is passionate about using words to capture what is most times difficult to express. Her book “10 Days To Live” was self-published when she was only 18, which sold about fifteen copies. When Toluwani is not writing, she has her head buried in a book.
—
This Poem was published in the July 2024 edition of the WSA magazine. Please click here to download.
Read – Life is Meaningless – A Poem by Akuei M. Adol – South Sudan
