& where I’m from is different from where I was born. I’ve been to many places. my home
is an empty city lost in the tides of history. we live on the coast of an ocean with red water. every morning
our elders dress in white linen to pray. at night we sit beneath a starry sky to litter the air with
astaghfirullahs, for those gone with the wind & those whose still bodies floated on the ocean.
pushing them worlds away from us. I don't have enough language to mold into the shape of my loss.
girls from my town talk to me & I can feel the wounds widening in their voices. I fear
the wounds will be resurrected in their daughters’ mouths. I am often afraid of love & how it
softens me & what is love but a blind bird winging through the heart of a cold night
to keep its eggs warm while rainfall crackles its nestbox.
Faruk Adamu Alfe, a Nigerian poet, a student of the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria. His work has appeared in Freedom Magazine of Itanile, shortlisted for Collins elisiro literary prize 2020. He divides his time between Adamawa and Zaria. Find him on twitter and Instagram @pharuk_Alfe.