One day,

You will part your lips

& suckle on happiness

Like the butterfly’s proboscis 

Plunging into the nectary. 

Your vision will transform,

& the world will burst into bloom

In brilliant hues of sun-kissed gold 

& soft rose pink.

Your heart will flutter like a butterfly’s wings;

You will pirouette to the wind’s music, 

& laughter will spill from your mouth.

One day, 

Soon, I promise, 

You will wear joy like a garment. 

The season will turn,

& your soul will roam the field

Of flowers, & the Sun’s fire will rekindle 

Your dreams.

Your worries will lift like the morning mist, 

& your spirit, free, will soar.

This poem is a prophecy, dear soul:

One day, 

You will reach out & touch happy tears 

That does not sting or burn.

Like the dream of the night at dawn,

Like dew at the arrival of the Sun,

Like the parched earth after the embrace of rain, 

your melancholy will be unremembered. 

ABOUT THE POET:

Tope Ogundare is the author of ‘The Book of Pain’ (Sevhage Publishers, 2018) and “Will You Buy My Wares?” (Assure Press, 2023), which was shortlisted for the 2023 ANA/KMVL Poetry Prize. His poems have appeared in Brittle Paper, Kalahari Review, Sentinel Literary Quarterly, Nailed Magazine, and three anthologies.