The Boy Isn’t Dead

 

He only asked for another place

to lay his head

maybe this world has become drained off colours

like a linen bleached by the sun

 

The boy isn't dead

close your eyes

paddle through the waters of imagination

you see him now

he is tilling his mother's garden

the sun– a thick coat over his skin

he wipes beads of sweat off his brow

 

His mother stands above the steps

he sees, he waves, she smiles

his brother runs a kite into the sky's eye

 

Maybe he loves it here

maybe the rainbows here never fade

maybe here dark voices do not tiptoe

 

But you, here you are

with all the beauty of the sun

with all the trees whispering in your ears

with all the happiness you can make

 

The boy isn’t dead

 

but he isn’t here either

please when next you choose to go

think of the smiles yet unhatched

think of me and you

you can become water without drowning

you can become the sun without imploding

 

Hussani Abdulrahim

Hussani Abdulrahim is a 24 years old  Nigerian writer and undergraduate at Usmanu DanFodio University, Sokoto, Nigeria. He is winner of WRR’s 2016 Green Author Prize & 2018 Humanity Flash Contest, finalist for 2018 Africa Book Club short story contest, shortlisted for 2018 Ken Egas Poetry Prize and Eriata Oribhabor Poetry Prize 2018, Wordiators Championship 2018 first runner-up, 2018 ANA Kano/Peace Panel Poetry Prize winner and runner-up in the short story category. His works have appeared in BPPC anthologies 2017 &2018, Praxis, Brittle Paper’s Work Naija Anthology, Vanguard’s HIV/AIDS Awareness Anthology, The Wrong Patient and Other Stories From Africa, excetra.

 

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *