Adieu
by Ololade Akinlabi Ige
Oyo, Nigeria
i wasn't surprised when my father said
what is beyond control is called fate
in the diary of grief, everyone has a page.
everything that left me and did not return
is lifeless; like my mother, like my sister
and like the girl that taught me love.
see, life is a reincarnated script & we all
are characters entertaining God.
yesterday, a family of seven was burnt to ashes,
i wonder if God was smiling or sobbing.
today makes a month that my sister said:
recite the Lord's prayer and seconds after,
her breath was rinsed by death.
Ololade Akinlabi Ige
Ololade Akinlabi Ige is a young Nigerian poet. He was a nominee for Nigeria Writers Award 2017 and was shortlisted for Albert Jungan poetry prize in 2018. He won the 2018 Ken Egba Poetry prize organized by Poet in Nigeria (PIN). His works have featured in Muse for world peace anthology, 84 delicious bottles of wine for Wole Soyinka, Word Rhymes and Rhythm (WRR) anthology, Sabr Literary Magazine, Wreath for a Wayfarer, Songs of peace anthology, Dissonance Magazine (UK), Voice Journal (USA), Teach. Write. (USA) among others.
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