Passers-by
(For Elder (Mrs.) Ejigh Hart Osu Ugbaga)
They flow with passions
Rivers of life
They meet in Conclaves
Confluence of souls
Packed in colours
They arrive many shores
Their goals the same
To paint pieces of love
Some paint and mould
Their names in gold
Some melt their gold
And sell a thousand fold
Time’s breeze
Covers both with dust
In morrow’s washing streams
The golden name will always shine
This painting board, covets colours of love
As best you can, Rainbow it today
In tomorrow’s book,
We’d be, mere passers-by
One Good Day
Sixteen and Naïve
Hadiza and I played on dewy Monday morns
Nineteen, Bolder and Suave,
She bade farewell on sad Purdha grounds
1998, Ronke and I, made the news
She was the brown sugar, in my bitter coffee mug
We gladly shared September’s first kiss
She chilled later, in trays of January’s morgue
Adaeze’s stroll, greeted my sad 99,
To my boat, she was the calm after troubling storms,
Rocking my soul and paddling my spirits,
She mailed pictures in May of her newest noble prince
In today’s book
All three belles, live in ink
They feed on smiles which from lips always affirm
Every day’s breathe are great lovers of mine
One Thing I know beyond all doubt
Calms my nerves and soothes my heart
One good day, Tomorrow or the next
Love and I shall meet at last.
Tonye is a Port Harcourt-based poet.
