The Cross by Okeke Onyedika
The world seeks to know the origin of grief in the body—how a house
loses everything at the foot of fire, within a moment
a community of men becomes homeless, two lovers become two nameless stars
in different worlds. In this same voice I say, take my legs and cross this sea!
You have not really lived until the dog sits and watches you washed ashore
by the river you raised; until the dog offers you a mouth to shout.
What we’ve seen or heard doesn’t matter anymore; the world wants to see God
under the cover of heavy darkness, turn towards the earth again and say let there be light!
A Nigerian emerging poet, Okeke Onyedika, is an undergraduate at Nnamdi Azikiwe University Awka, where he studies Sociology/Anthropology. His poems have previously appeared or forthcoming in The Blue Nib, Kissingdynamite, Deluge, Rockvale review, Kosmos, Convivium among others. He currently lives in his hometown, Ojoto.