TOPE OGUNDARE

Time Washed Away Our Love

We birthed our love on the sandy shore,
The waters witnessed the first ray of light—
The incandescence of the heat
Creating an alloy of hearts.

We lay under the star-strewn quilt
Of darkness, the ocean calm, the moon
Smiling her approval, & the twinkling
Stars giggling their delight.

Like the memories of stars fading from
The sky when time turns the earth’s face
Towards the sun, our love faded with the
Earth’s journeys around the sun.

Time aged our love, brought aching joints
Frail bodies, and eventually death.
Time overcame our love, patiently,
Surreptitiously, with the wear and tear
Of constancy.

Like wall mural aging into the wall,
Our love began to fade, losing luster, losing
The sharpness of its edges & boundaries,
Blending into the background.

Time rendered our love obsolete.
Love, as we knew it, lost its power
To hold us together.

Like a body buried in the earth, our love turned
To dust, to grains of sand on the ocean’s shore,
Carried on the back of the waves back to the ocean.

Time washed away our love, like an ocean tide
Washing away the drawing of linked hearts
On the sandy shore.

Tope Ogundare is a Nigerian who writes poetry, short stories, and essays. He has two poetry collections, ‘The Book of Pain’ (Sevhage Press, 2018), and “Will you buy my wares?” (Assure press, 2023). His works have appeared in Brittle Paper, Kalahari Review, Sentinel Literary Quarterly, Pilcrow and Dagger, Moonchild Magazine, TinyTim Literary Review, DASH, Intima, Snapdragon, The Aquila, Argot Magazine, Pangolin Review, Minute Magazine, Nailed Magazine, and elsewhere.