The night, my little enchanter
She of true nobility
Aura of grace
Gaze of wisdom
The weight in her silence
A true testament of age
She who is older than day

On moonlit nights
She watches in silence
The crickets chirping
The children seated in circles
Journeying to a distant world
Their laughter ringing from hut to hut
The clear voice of the storyteller
Bringing rapture to their entranced faces

A shift in her gaze
Brings to sight an hilarious scene
As she watches men
With amusement dancing in her eyes
As they stagger from over indulgence
Boasting to the world like Eleri
Who lost his ears to overconfidence
Nothing so painful for these men though
Their senses only lost deep in their cups

Then the talking drum serenading from afar
Catching her attention with its sonata
Ah! The dancers
Maidens trying to catch suitors
Dancing with their body
While infusing their soul with every melody
Seducing men
With the undulating rhythm of their waist
Their waist beads substituting the Sèkèrè
All in all a beautiful melody

The melodies aren’t meant for dancers alone
Secret lovers share in the euphoria
A perfect moment for blossoming love
When men whisper impossible promises
And women with stars in their eyes
That rival the night sky
Their heart struck by Eros
The time to build castles in the air
To make a woman feel like Orekelewa
Her Majesty chuckles in disbelief
Knowing truly well the ecstasy will fade

Alas! This is not the night I speak of
The night I speak of grows from our darkest thoughts
Thoughts too morbid to whisper at dawn
But conceived and revealed by night
Every sinister concealed by the sun
Soon to be unveiled by night and allowed to roam
This is the night I fear

Where all laughter is evil
All dances are possessed
All secrets are terrifying
All promises are harmful
A night when the world is bleak
That even her Majesty is merciless
The night that keeps all secrets
The one that keeps me awake
Silently quaking on my mat.

 

Photo by Erick Zajac on Unsplash