february 15th

for Apele

“and birds go flying at the speed of sound
to show you how it all began”
- coldplay

we are on a bed on a hot afternoon
in a university hostel room
our bellies filled with a meal we shared
minutes before we are bound for class
that's one way i remember

you
in a wide smile
an ever unfolding fist of light
writing your story by your heart
and not by what was given to you
you taught me your name as a song
a foreign word you said
i still let it out tenderly
trembling in grief for
you, you

lived in a world that your lips
ached to tell me about
like your many colours of breathing
how you appeared after every rainfall
arched in brilliance and ambition
and in tenderness to every dream you had
now i can only imagine your bloom

i sit by your memories watching birds
race the sound of your leaving
it happens in a blur every time
how they come and are swiftly gone
yet not fast enough to outrun
how hurriedly you left