A Sweet-bitter Tale by Deji Cornelius Daodu

I met your voice before you and became curious

The shape of you seized my senses and I fell without a parachute

My cousin played matchmaker, a set of hearts were laid on the table

You were beauty and I, your charming prince

We wrote an epic that stemmed from the stories you told

You showed me your recent wounds and I felt pained

Our love was nurtured by desire

You were my star, lighting the path to happily ever after

Distance crept in like a chameleon and things fell apart

You sought familiar faces to re-ignite old flames

I groveled in loneliness, I cried tears of pain, longing to revive what I thought was love

You left me in the cold and my feelings started to freeze before a benevolent lass lit me a fire

There’s a side to you I didn’t know, a face I didn’t see

I was a pawn in your game and you were my queen

I was never spotless but you were a leopard

So one day, I woke up from your bed of lies and ran off into the streets of awakening

With you I was a timid cub, now I have become a lion

*Written for Abiola Omogbolahan Justice