Oladejo Abdullah Feranmi

Lifespan

after Andrea Gibson

I own a few happy selves,

I shelve them between the books

and wear them on a day

I may see my mother.

I keep one beneath my skin

like a firefighter

dressed for an emergency

that might not happen.

No one wants to see you burn away

on time. I have some few people

who, like me, set their hearts on fire

with no one rooting for them

but themselves.

They have the gentlest flame.

Their words are made of dew

and every dawn is well welcomed;

Good morning.

Let us be great.

And we have been great

to the tiniest piece of our mosaic.

And we have been sober of our hearts

two or three times. And there is

so much to count in a life span

even on the days we do not care

of its length but the width,

we are always there.

We lavish seconds on time

as it was given to us.

But we are never our hands yet.

We still have so little to say.

And we mostly do poems,

so we leave the details to time.

And we are the details,

so we leave the details to time.

---

Oladejo Abdullah Feranmi is a Writer, Haikuist, and a Veterinary Medicine student from Nigeria. A Thomas Dylan Shortlist and a Pushcart Nominee, he reads submissions at Sea Glass Literary magazine and edits for the incognito press. His works are published in Gone Lawn, Hooligan Magazine and more. He tweets from @tinybecomings.