Written by Olamide Ayoade

the moon sheds its skin // on my face // like a snake sheds its scale //

upon the face of the earth // & now that my eyes are clear // I crawl

out of my old skin // searching for a home within me // what I found

in me are hymns of dirges // unwritten dirges waiting to be chorused

to heaven // I keep searching for an exit door // in the echo of my

grieving voice // this body is a graveyard // of bones muttering extinction //

of things better left unsaid // this body is a semblance of fire // a paradise of

silent flames // this body wears sorrow // & replaces the sky with a puff of

grief // this body keeps writing the night // & tries to resonate every star

signs with sun rays // they say depression knows no bounds // & pain keeps

breaking heaven // to build another heaven // nights now paints emptiness in

my bones // every line you see is a befitting scar // of depressed memories //

escaping through the tunnel of a bleeding nib // every night // I clap & my

shadow begins to sing praises // it eulogizes my grief & brace bruises on my

lips // this is to say // my body is a cauldron of burnt offerings // of braising

sores // replacing the clouds // with spreading smokes of nightmares //

replacing the church with an incense of despair