Love Abecedarian

By Clement Abayomi

Ache begins at the denouement of love. Today, the
Bleak sky mirrors the gracelessness of my ashen eyes.
Coffee tomorrow is the taste of a blood-soaked bile, & my
Day-long dreams yearn to liquefy like sugar in hot oil.
Eyes, glittering in all its grace without grazing me,
For how long will you hold me in your evanescent gaze?
Giggles ricocheting through a theatre of tongues
Holding a bouquet of drowned words? Anxiety plagues my heart, &
In my chest, a circus of butterflies collapse like an old, tattered tent.
January might outdo the yuletide cold. But with you,
Kisses imagined evaporate like summer rain. Shall my
Lips continue to wilt when yours could moisten the Atacama?
Moonlight rays envy your splendour. They struggle, awash in
Nostalgic flight, remembering halcyon days of innocent memories.
Only these tired eyes behold the emptiness in my open hands.
Promise me, Girl, that my melodies will ever reach your ears.
Quench my thirst & let no questions torment my sleepless mind.
Reason fails me because I’m intoxicated & lovesick.
Shall I watch this sorrow settle like evening dust on my desire?
Time, too, runs like an open fountain pouring into itself.
Universe, indifferent to my plight, keeps orbiting.
Virility yearns to escape the confines of this solitude. Let not my
Words wilt like dehydrated roses in the garden of your heart. Like a
Xylem, let my heart ferry this water of love into the roots of your roses.
You, the flower blooming. & I, the river watering the garden. Us,
Zygotes fusing into one chimera, each holding the joy of two.

BIO:
Clement Abayomi is a Nigerian poet and short story writer. He has been published in Penned in Rage Literary Journal, African Writers Magazine, Writers Space Africa, Teambooktu, and Poets Choice, among others. He was longlisted for the Brigitte Poirson Literature Prize 2024 and won the Inaugural Bridgette James Poetry Competition 2024. He tweets @clement_abayomi.