Ifedolapo Ogunniyi

I was always there,
Though you never saw me.
My eyes flowed silently,
Witnessing your misdeeds.
I know all your secrets,
Every lie,
And empty promise.

I saw everything.
Day and night, I kept records—
Your whispers,
Your echoes,
Your cries,
And your daughters.

Should I be worried?
For I am powerless.
I longed to comfort you
In your days of sorrow,
To chastise you
When you erred.
But I cannot.

I am the river that flows,
Intimate with the shore’s secrets,
Watching as women bared their nakedness,
Indulging in the acts of love,
Staining my waters with their passions.
Yet I cannot reveal these truths.
Not now,
Not ever.

Here to let you know
That the octopus beneath may not know,
The tilapia may not pay attention,
But I know it all
And I see everything you try so hard to hide.

© Ifedolapo Ogunniyi
2024

In love’s cruel grasp, my heart in sorrow bound,
A tempest fierce, where fleeting joys are drowned,
Yet hope remains, where shattered dreams are found.

© Ifedolapo Ogunniyi

I wish I could say

How much I care for you

But I don’t know how

So here is what I will do

I will write you a letter

Saying what I have been through

Day after day

Always thinking of you

I don’t see you much

But when I do it makes me cry

So I will write to you

Without a lie

I will say that I love you

The first line that I write

So you instantly know

At your first sight

I will say that I dream

I will say that I fly

And without you

I would probably die

I will say that I smile

As I write you the note

I will say that I wished

I could wear your big coat

I will say that whenever

I close my eyes

I see you face

It never dies

I will say that you are perfect

In every possible way

That I wish I could hold you

Every single day

I will say that I wish

You were here with me

But it’s crazy because

I know you can’t be

Do you think about me

Or did you forget

The things we had done

And the goals we had set

But after I read

My note once again without a blink

I realize I will never send it

It is a waste of my ink

You would  see it, and read it

Then throw it away

You do not care anymore

To yourself you would say

‘You just wasted my ink, again’

My pen stared at me in great pain 

What can I do? 

I am just but a coward in da hood

I stare at my paper

With a sad pout

Then shred it to pieces

And threw it out

We can never happen !!!

© Ifedolapo Ogunniyi