My Father’s Breath in the Eternal Moon of Farewell
i, too some-day would look
into the room where my mother
used to tell us the tale of the luminous moon
that seldom refused to shine with red-teary eyes,
but sadly, my ears would neither trace her mellifluous tone
nor would my eyes catch a glimpse of her mature teeth
someday, i would wake up early in the morning
with grief-stricken news that would melt my heart–
that the grey-haired man that puts food on our table
has gone to stay in the world where only the breathless souls go
someday, i would ask my tender heart with a sorrowful tone–
about the glamorous light i used to behold in the night
every time i sleep, but an oven would my heart become–
melting my tissues without a word of comfort, even for a while
someday, i would not be able to swallow
the distance of joy treasured in the box of survival or
be fed with the half-baked taste of oxygen
somehow cooked in the house of the wind
someday, i would reminisce the memories
my smile shared with my father at his library,
& i know, heavy tears of painful thoughts
would be suddenly & dreadfully dipping from my eyes
to flood my face & make me a synonym for death
someday, i would marvel how i, like the wind
is not a replica of my father’s breath–
if i were to be like his breath; i would not have allowed him
to journey to see the eternal moon of farewell
someday, i will be gone
& you will not render me some rhymes,
just someday.
Contributor’s Bio
Yahuza Usman, a member of the Northern Writers Forum, is a Nigerian poet, short-story writer,
essayist, and the Secretary of the Taraba Hill-Top Creative Arts Foundation from Al-Mishkat
Academy Jalingo, Taraba State. He has been a coauthor in about 7 International anthologies. He
has his works published by Al-Mir’aatuh Magazine, World Voices Magazine, Literary Yard, Itell
Stories and Everything Beautiful, and elsewhere. He made the shortlist of the 2022 Iconic
Writers of India by Sparkling Cornexpress Media, India. He emerged in the 2nd position of the
Taraba Youth for Peace Project Essay Competition organized by Dar Al Andalus Centre in
October 2022. He won the first prize for on-the-spot non-fiction writing at the 2023 Hadiza
Ibrahim Aliyu School Festival (HIASFEST 2023) in Minna, Niger State. Yahuza is a Hafiz, a
typist, a graphic designer, and a networker who bears the Crawling Writer as his poetic name.
You can reach out to him via email: [email protected]
