“Professor Okong stared on the tabletop with lowered eyes; like eyes at half- mast.” ~

Anthills of the Savannah, Chinua Achebe

With his weary rising

the purpose has almost been completed 

Eyes at half-mast

and salt and pepper strands 

bear witness and testify

to the being that will soon seep

from a clay vessel

soon pass into the void of the night 

Milky eyes have begun to reflect a shroud 

that no one else sees

the stomach subserviently takes 

the shape of a swollen gourd 

and all the while the soul has been planted 

roots as sturdy as ripened cassava 

and heaves with the yellow fruit 

of twenty thousand fervent prayers  

from the last third

of darkness

Later this library will decompose

and leave the sweet fragrance

of a strange memory

and an even stranger heart

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