Reverie

Patrick Ashinze, Nigeria

The stars of the sky are here,
appearing as palindromes
and prosodies of light.

Some are lulling
the white moon to sleep
as nightly clouds sprint
across the sky like gazelles
on the run from a cougar
with the face of daylight.

Some are revealing
the secrets of inverted omens,
like the dreams of a blind man.
Some are unearthing memories
buried deep in the recesses of time.
Some are conjuring mares
for wandering spirits
to be ripped apart
and find rest in nothingness.
Some are praying
in the sultry language
butterflies use to hypnotize
flower buds at sunrise.

Here I am,
alone on a bridge
between the earth and sky,
gazing at the moon
the first people on earth
looked at and prayed to.

Here I am,
unbothered by the dim,
soundless night,
unafraid of being
alone in the dark,
as I see one of them —
the stars — become
a hand that lays itself
on my feet, setting them
to walk on the path of light:
the one that led
them all down here.

Pat Ashinze is a medical doctor. He got his first degree from the University of Ilorin, Nigeria (2021) where he won the Inaugural Students Union Poetry Prize (2019). His works have appeared and are forthcoming on Eunoia review, Terse Journal, Corvus review, Ngiga review etc. He was a finalist for the 2021 S. Dibiaze Poetry Prize and the 2021 World NTDS Storytelling Competition. He won the 2021 WinglessDreamer Midnight Poetry Contest. He's a UN Academic Impact Fellow, a BookPecker Fellow and a Member of the Nigerian Team for the FORD Foundation-sponsored 2022 African Youth Partnership program. Pat currently resides and practices in Edo, Nigeria