Awwal Owolabi

Ceasefire

I carved my ex-lover’s memory; an effigy of distrust, on the left side of my chest

Each breath reminds me of an aged bond, metamorphosed into bondage

Of love stories turned artefacts of violence

Like my mum and her ex-husband, Ukraine and Russia

Voids and spaces where the innocent swallow grief the size of a grenade

At the sight of two elephants cloaked 

In combat gears, green grasses wither

Like the people of Gaza, embracing bullets with folded arms

Like Ukrainian citizens gasping for survival, Putin in efforts to stay afloat

Like a boy from a broken home, whose happiness hangs by a thread

ALL YOUR COLOURS ARE OFTEN BEAUTIFUL

“All is fair in love and war”

Until a mother hangs hatred on the shelf of her daughter’s mind

And a father plant lies in his son’s belly

Because their love died prematurely like the smile on the lips of a widow 

How do you save a boy from drowning in the river of his father’s woes?

How do you save a girl from dancing to the tune of her mother’s disaster?

How do you save a country from falling into ruins?