Give me the completion of life
As the sun lifts its golden rays at the break of dawn
At the break of daylight…
As the planet erects with the rising of dew on its planes
Refreshing the beautiful morning frame
A perfect picture of daily life
Give me the completion of life
As the rose blossoms in the warmth of the light
Blooms…wilts… and sacrifices its petals to fertilize
It lives…its dies…its gives for the soil to thrive
As we released into this rose oil infused soil
The coffins of our lovers, of our mothers, fathers, brothers
Of our sisters, uncles and aunts
The lifeless faces of our friends and neighbors
In solitude we released them…
In excruciating all consuming loneliness we released them
Burying our certainty with them, as we knew it
Our livelihoods, our stability and relationships…
we covered them in grit and dirt
With grace we released them
We buried our spontaneous warm cuddly hugs
We let go of the intimate kisses that gladly engulfed our lives
We buried the handshake that dissolved each fist
We covered our smiles in cloth of rags made with pieces
As we prayed their souls He keeps
We buried them in that rose perfumed dust,
(From dust they came to dust they returned)
In hopes of an afterlife
Give me the completion of life
As the rays bow in fulfillment before the evening light
As the night swallows the day
I understand the grey of the dark knight
He heals with the sword of pain the broken systems
Like when black lives did not matter
The blade that cuts through the fallacies and the lies
For death is life
A crossroad, a renewal, a path of new meaning for change
Polarity of creativity Divine
Recycling a phenomenon once again, a mysterious pattern
A dance of dualities like lovers intertwined
Every fall for an elevation and rise
Every breakdown paving a way for each breakthrough
As fate would have it…they are molded to exist in inseparable fusion
To complement and regulate
And transform an emptiness that was created to hold
What a profound wisdom for times of Night…as it is all One
For with Daylight is bound to come
Unfathomable bittersweet beauty in that space
Of a death that creates life
Margaret Chideme is a poet and a writer. She has a blog called Maggie’s Diary and also loves to indulge in colorful, boundless, creative writing as a tool to dive into taboo topics. She has published a book called First Thirty that is available on Amazon, Afrokulcha, Xarra Bookstores and Innov8 Bookstores. She has collaborated with various organizations to bring awareness to societal issues like Lafarge Cement Zimbabwe for the plight of the girl child, Word Smash Poetry in solidarity with Women Human Rights Defenders, as well as the SADC Human Rights Poetry 2021 Virtual Festival.