On an evening swallowed by dusk,
I tread a narrow path to the stream
where many feet had trod.
New steps erase the prints of those before,
etching signs that whisper,
Souls have treaded this route.
The dusty leaves wave at me,
as they are tossed by the
gentle evening breeze.
Getting to the lip of the river,
I marvel at how it has swelled, like
the milky breast of a nursing mother;
it swelled like a yeasted dough.
As I pore over its other end,
my destination looks so close—yet
just out of reach.
In the deafening silence of the river bank,
I take a feeble step forward,
peering into its depth;
the sight of its screaming impurity
sends cold under my bare feet.
In that deafening silence,
in that moment of solitude,
I say a word of prayer:
May I cross unbruised,
without pebbles pricking my tender soles.

Olobo Ejile hails from Dekina, Kogi State. He is a poet, writer, and researcher. His works have appeared (or are forthcoming) in ANA, Fiction Niche, Indy Press, among others. He is a fellow of the 2025 Idembeka Creative Writing Workshop. Currently, he is an M.A. student at the Department of English, University of Ibadan, where he majors in Literature.

“This poem was inspired by the path where I commute through when returning home after school, the natural ecosystem at the river side, and the deep silence.”