I understand

love.

I know it like

I know my mother’s face.

I know how love is exposed

when trying to hide behind dark

curtains. I could close my eyes to

spot out love,

even in darkness. Love doesn’t make

itself so difficult to be seen. I know

how love absorbs intimacy like cloths

Do water. You wouldn’t wring

it out, unless you were willing to face

the dryness of a lifetime. Before love,

I know how the longing & the absence

feel like a thirst. You want to carry

the jug & gulp to thirst no more, even

though a little sip intoxicates. And then,

after love finally comes upon you,

your heart, closed like a tomb, opens

to be filled.

Opeyemi Oluwayomi is a Nigerian writer, an English & Literary student of University of Ibadan. His works have appeared or are forthcoming on Heart of Flesh Literary Journal, Ink Sweat & Tears, Art Lounge Journal, Brittle Paper, Shallow Tales Review, Ekstasis Magazine, Eboquil Magazine, SpringNG, and elsewhere. He was the second-runner-up winner of the Shuzia Poetry Competition, 2023 (Journey of the Soul). He holds NCE in English & Music, from Federal College of Education, Abeokuta. Social media handles: Joseph O. Oluwayomi