Gone

           ‘A bitter cold wind swept round them, and 

            she felt something pulling at her dress. 

            “Quick, quick,” cried the Ghost’  –  Oscar 

            Wilde, The Canterville Ghost 

 

 

before i can speak you’re already gone 

all of you, ghosts shimmering in the flames 

of absence, i question you and the wind 

answers. i am left with the spite of night. 

 

the elders say you can only tell a frog’s true length 

when it dies:  your bodies are now sand and bone, 

no rulers can lay their digits on you. 

i question you and the wind answers 

 

sarah, emma, jerry… – I could name you all; 

you said crying was good, but you didn’t say 

which eye should first shed its load. this riddle 

ages me. i question you and the wind answers. 

 

yesterday I saw a dead frog, lonely 

by the side of the road. i could tell  

its length, but its voice had faded in the sun, 

its green and blood were fused into mystery. 

 

i turned to point it out to you, but before 

i could speak the wind blew my scarf away. 

uncollecteded poem, © Nii Ayikwei Parkes 2021, used by permission of the author.

Nii Ayikwei Parkes grew up in Ghana but was born in the UK where he later returned for further study, where with the friendship and ...

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