Kira Jotham

While I steal glances at her

She stands aloof as the sun

Seemingly clueless of how

Beautiful her short hair looks on her.

This human enigma that I got lost in since the fifth grade 

But never had the guts to say while looking into the windows 

Of her eyes- stony words that rattle like- 

“Ummm, Hey- I fear that this thing heaving in my 

Chest likes you more than the blood it carries.

So it happens that in one moment of falling

I hear every voice I ever soaked up in my life 

Tell me in a mutter that it is “now or never!” 

But as my body leans towards her 

My mind is stunned to a quickening panic that only

Morphs into the crippling command-  “S-T-O-P!” 

But yet my legs take a walk of faith 

And I find myself- as though by a miracle- inches from her.

My heart races itself to a crazed beat 

And I lose sense of reality as my mind flips 

A thousand and one times over

Then a “Hello!” becomes the sum of all my breath 

Before I watch her turn- stare-   then smile at me

And I’m caught in the thoughts of “I could get used to this”

While I fumble to regain my composure.

“It is now or never!”  But all I go on to say is:

“Danny says you’ve been skipping his calls since last night

Listen- he wants to sort it out- he loves you- he really does.”

I am two paces from her now and all I 

Carry with me as I walk away from this human enigma 

Is a pint of tingling tears that rim my eyes.

Broken into countless shards of hurt 

I    S-T-O-P    and realize 

Like a child rejected by his own toys-   that

“Not all love stories deserve to be written.”

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Kira Jotham is a student of Abubakar Tafewa Balewa University, Bauchi. He has been writing for as long as his first Breakup which was two years ago. It offered an escape from the pain he was experiencing then. It’s been a hectic year with writing turning from a place of escape to somewhere he feels comfortable and express himself freely.