Two Poems

You are currently viewing Two Poems
Photo by Eyasu Etsub / Unsplash

Three Deaths

My body was my first grave living, and warm

Yet it buried the rot I felt and the smell of death

That seeped deep into my skin, making a home in my bones

Still, I breathed as if I felt nothing

 

My bed was my second grave, where the desire I had

The longing for life drained from my weak vessel

Seeping back into the ground beneath me, leaving me

A repulsive sight stinking of death;

She whispered of unending nights, cold days, unmoving

And the heaviness, from the weight of the dead dreams

Unlived lives; and love that should have been

Given freely, without fear or reservation

 

The tomb was my third grave I learnt the warmth of cold days

Singing during the unending nights, fireflies dimly light up the sky

And life lived deep under the layers of death and nothingness

I clutched to a single thread that felt heavy and warm

On the third day, there was a tug

He said, “Lazarus, come out!”

 

I stumbled into the light shrouded by hope

Smelling of death- a man with a pitiful past

 

Beauty in the Sunset

The beauty in the sunset rests on the dancing gold in your eyes

The promise of a new day, blank and bendable to anything you want

The sadness that hides in the little wrinkles just below your eyes

When you smile and they fold as if they’re ashamed to weigh you down

The beauty in the sunset hides in your smile, charming and vibrant

Beauty that is silent, and persistent – beauty that that comes from within

It rests on the curves of your face, it dances at the edge of your brows

As if daring anyone who beholds you, to try and find the words-

Words to capture that feeling of promise, the promise of light and laughter

Salama Wainaina