Hymn Book by Fatima Salihu

             hymn book

 

I cried my dad an ocean/

he struck at it and made a path/

where

fishes don’t swim these days/ they germinate instead and grow out shells

i once asked my mum why people immortalise final moments/

final conversations/ final encounters / final squabble

 

the last time my dad smiled/

he was wearing purple

she said it’s to hold tight/ the end of that pipe

holding desperately

to the loose end of time/

a connection from the creator to the created

 

a girl after seven years quit smoking /

said she saw her friend while dreaming/

making fire from a dry log of wood/

it was emitting smoke

 

a thief stopped stealing suddenly/

the last day he saw his daughter alive

she was wearing a shirt he had stolen

if every last moment is that special,why do we derail?

 

they say life is a circle, only by dying can we complete one full circle

my mum said every human that receives life/ automatically receives death

and i received life twice.

 

 

 

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Fatima Salihu is from munya local government of Niger State. She bags a Bsc in mathematics from Bayero University Kano. A member of the Hilltop creative art foundation, She annually volunteers at orphanage homes across the country. She bags a certificate in poetry writing workshop organized by the arts muse fair. She has helped organize and volunteer for many art events: Minna Spelling Bee, HIASFEST,NIFESTINA…
She is the author of Sketches,a collection of poetry.