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.