“My friends and enemies call me candy”
stamped the beginning of our correspondence.
Your sweet voice had the consistency of brandy,
soothing my disfigured heart and curing my despondence.
My world was illuminated by your gracious arrival—
but this light warred against the tempest within.
Like a tumbleweed, you staggered into a long-standing trial
but toward a more forgiving course must I now allow you spin.
I have eaten the berries of your love’s winsome shrub
and partaken of the drink sourced from the stream of nonchalance.
Now, what is left of your love is but a decaying stub,
created from my inhospitable response.
My world is now unlighted as it was before—
waiting for another damsel to be washed ashore.
Aanuoluwapo John Adesina - 2020
