DEATH Poem: 10 Notes of Grief, by Oluwatomilesin Sodimu

10
i have always been a naive soul.
once i dared God to take away
a vessel of His and see
if any glory would emit from it
but the Potter broke
the pot anyway

9
trice has death
yet powerless stolen from me
and though i waited a miracle
all were saved
in
the sand

8
i followed my kin
to my father’s grave
and she cried & hoped that
she be there another day but
the grave had her in few days

7
a shoe a Bible a bag
and my kin laid on a weaved local mat
in a store
i stepped into the place
and she smiled at me
i was confused
she looked younger like an high schooler.
someone said she would look so
when we meet again

6
my phone rang on a noon
my sister told me
the doctors speaking not
like the mortals they are said
our kin will soon be with our father
somewhere in the heavens and
six feet underground
I will not forgive them for that

5
my kin was a believer
so was i
we left what we know
for what we believed
faith is negligently trusting
what can heal or deny us
now only I remain.

4
a prophetess my mother
my kin & i sat in a sitting-room
the prophetess gave my sister
a white soap
she gave me a card with a cross
on the face
a mustard seed within
& said we read some psalms into water
she swore she was of God
& not of tradition
today i am without the card
& my kin

3
i went on Facebook & screenshot
my kin’s youthful pictures she laughed
as she went through them
i reminded her of a time
i had given her a welcome card
which i had made with her sketched self on it
I heard she cried when she saw it
she was 35. i was a juvenile
five years later i saw her
age and picture
on an obituary

2
i was in a motor with my sisters
& their friend
i met my mother isolated
from the burial & i threw myself
into her laps
my sisters could not stay calm for long
& ran wild. i was gentle
like a shadow but some old men
sent me out of my kin’s bedroom
& i became a mad man
we drove away and saw the posters
of my kin’s obituary. it said
“celebration of life”
my sister alighted & and tore them off

1
a thousand times had i
rebuked reality thinking it was the devil
but what could i have done when all i had were
faith love & video calls
I guess all that were not enough
to keep a drowning candle burning
I guess no one actually has the right
to tell death Not Today