She is Here

The following poem was written for my wife. But something funny happened last year when I presented the poem at the annual conference of the Association of Nigerian Authors at the Arewa House, Kaduna. Members present thought the poem was for a girl who sat in the audience, dressed in blue. Being writers, they kept laughingly teasing the girl, who was so bemused that she disappeared during break!

SHE IS HERE

She is here
She is right here
She is here with us
She is light in skin
Deliciously painted like the colour
Of sunfall
She is half tall
Dressed in crying blue.

But you cannot see her
Only I can see her
From behind my eye
Even if I was blind
I would still see her.

Her history?
Her history is stuck in mine
In tantalising symmetry

Have you ever been in heaven?
I have.
Not once not twice
She took me there
First when I was in hell
And more after she had freed me.

In heaven she gave me a sweet gift
A cute bundle who looks just like me
Whose footsepts fall where
I etched mine.

Would you like to see her?
Look into my eye
And beyond my eye
She stands there
Half-tall
Light-bodied like the retiring sun
Hidden in a blue veil
Blue veil - the colour of our love.