Aminu Aliyu Poems

INDEPENDENT

pearl,
forming its head
...

MADIBA

I wasn't there
In the village of Mvezo
...

Chant my name
I am the king of immortality
...

And everyday
Your absence rattles like jingles of guns
In my heart
Your love handcuffs the poet
...

For Zakiya
(Dear, Love...)

There is no sand-storm that can obliterate the reality of who we are and what I am with you. This love that's here before us knows the name of forever, and these hearts that live with us before these bodies have swon to the call of this love; to live beyond where the wind stops, to ripple from tides to torrents and then another; unstopable cascade, like your love; the atlas of unknown heavens, like your face that washes the moon into night, like your voice that carries the taste of sugar-cane, like your eye that holds the sacred of zam-zam and your walk that lulls the hubbub of hamattan to rest.
...