Category: Uncategorized

(A Child’s Telling)

The village slept beneath the frosty moon,
But I awoke much earlier than noon.
A secret smell of spices filled the air,
A call to join a magic I could share.

I tiptoed past the kitchen, keen to see
The mystery of what this day would be.
A bubbling pot of promise,deep and grand,
Was stirred by my dear Mama’s careful hand.

Then Mama Ade, with laughter in her eyes,
Gave me a treasure,hot and crisp and wise.
A golden akara,wrapped in leaf so green,
The finest little snack I’d ever seen.

The drums began to boom across the land,
A thrilling,deep, and mighty sound so grand.
They pulled us to the square with steady beat,
And set the rhythm for our dancing feet.

The feast was laid with joy on every plate,
We ate and celebrated,late and late.
Then sleepy,’neath the stars so soft and deep,
I held the magic as I fell asleep.

© Ifedolapo Ogunniyi
http://www.ifedolapoogunniyi.com

I race the seconds, breath consumed by fire,
Each frantic heartbeat drives the engine higher.
The clock’s cold hands, they hunt and chase my soul,
A thundering, indifferent tide I can’t control.

Every moment slips away like drifting sand,
Faster than my straining grasp can now command.
​Whispers pierce the silence of my hurried mind:
“Don’t look back; you’re running wild, you’re running blind.”

The future gleams, a solitary, fading light,
Flickering on the edge of endless night.
I push, I strive, I battle, and I climb
Desperate, fiercely running against the grain of time.

​Feel the urgent throb beneath your pumping skin,
The restless, driving, suffocating din.
Life will not pause, it will not wait, it will not stay
Run now, or watch this fleeting chance just drain away.

© Ifedolapo Ogunniyi
Quotefied

I Slipped Out of the Story.
I Stopped Carrying the Weight.
I Released What Was Breaking Me.

I did not slam doors or start a war.
There was no thunder across the floor.
Just a quiet fading of my flame,
A slow forgetting of my own name.

I slipped out of the story
The day I begged for love in vain,
The day my smile hid all my pain.
I laughed for show, not from my soul,
I played my part but lost my role.

I stopped carrying the weight
The night my whispers touched the air,
And you walked past like nothing was there.
My heart stretched wide, hoping you would see,
But you never turned your eyes to me.

I released what was breaking me
Not with a pen or a signed decree,
But with the silence growing inside of me.
With eyes that no longer lit up for you,
And hands that felt empty in all they knew.

The saddest thing is you did not see
How every day unstitched a piece of me.
You kept moving in your own space,
While I slowly vanished without a trace.

I became a shadow in our home,
A ghost who learned to feel alone.
A woman who prayed for love to remain,
But now only prays to breathe again.

It was not pride. It was not rage.
It was the burden of carrying the same old page.
Every heart reaches a breaking line.
Mine broke softly without a sign.

And now I stand with truth in hand,
Not loud, not cruel, but unable to stand
In a place where my spirit slowly died
Though I stayed, though I hoped, though I tried.

I slipped out of the story.
I stopped carrying the weight.
I released what was breaking me.

And deep within I still wish you knew
I never wanted to walk away from you.
I just could not stay in a love half blind
Where I lost myself trying to keep us aligned.

© Ifedolapo Ogunniyi
http://www.ifedolapoogunniyi.com