like a chameleon conceals its
presence amidst people,
I bury my pain
like a body being interred.
i see smiles smearing on people’s
faces, like sunlight bathing the
earth with luminance.
happiness is a moon, radiating to
some people & leaving me in the dark.
isn’t happiness a good cheat?
this thing called pain morphs into a dagger
stabbing every part of my heart &
leaving it sore.
my mother is a gem,
whenever she asks: ọkọ mi, ṣe àlàfíà lo wa?
i would hide my pains.
i wish to be a free bird
reveling in the sky with glee.
i want to breathe, live, and be free
from this pain wrapping itself
around my tender heart.
i want to dazzle
like the petal of a flower, &
that is not too much to ask.
Lord, bless my heart with glee.
Salami Alimot Temitope is an emerging Nigerian writer and photographer, and currently a student of Lagos State University, Nigeria. Her works explores themes on life, grief, loss and family. Her creative works have appeared, or are forthcoming, in Native Skin Magazine, Olney Magazine, Icefloe Press, Brittle Paper, Arts Lounge, Terror House Magazine, Nantygreens, Shortlisted in Brigitte Poirson Poetry Contest August/September, Kalahari Review, Pawners Paper, Nymphs, Nnoko Stories Magazine, The Hearth Magazine, Naija Readers’ Buffet and elsewhere. She says _hi_ on Twitter & Instagram @lyma_lami
