ON DAYS SUCH AS TODAY
by Elujulo Oluwatobiloba
On a day such as today
When it rains as though it would never stop
And then stops as though it never rained.
We laugh and we talk
Wasn’t it the other day we saw the girls
Playing and talking and laughing
Doing their best to play and talk all they could
Like they knew just how short time could be
Like they knew what we also now know
That soon, the rains will come again
And in that moment, I paused
They reminded me so much of us
Back then when our chests were flat
Just before we were made to know
That time in this world is not measured by
Days when it rains and when it doesn’t.
Then I look at you
This day as it rains
As you continue your narrative
about how the blue- black battered eye became yours
And it occurs that we still don’t know what measures time in this world
I stand up wiping the dust off my dress
“Nnamdi will soon be home”
We both understand what I did not say.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Oluwatobiloba is a Law Student at the University of Ibadan. She is a daughter, a sister, a friend, a colleague and many other things. She loves watching Nickelodeon while sitting on a brown couch at home. She knows she is deeply loved by God and that gives her the courage to face life. She believes if she was not reading Law, she would be reading English. She loves people and their stories.
