Poem: Where the Light Enters

(for O.)

By Ocheni Kazeem Oneshojo

YOUR mild eyes
are heaven’s eyes,

thus beauty lives in you,
and outside of you.

I hope her eyes see
another heaven’s eyes.

I, a flower dampened,
a cloud wet—

the weighty summer, the cruel summer
struts around a flower,

a sprouting,
young old flower,

raggedly in a thorny bush.
I hope yours is a bloomhaven.

Even if my bud sprouts,
the summer might still

dampen them.
I am sorry the flower

still grows.
What about the rain?

What about you?
Give me your hands:

let me feel the gentle, bitter taste
of peace.
Once, I felt your rays,
Still, I breathe in them.

Feed me your rays,
lest my buds refuse to sprout.

Feed me your smiles
lest a day could come

I won’t find them.
So here I stand.

Let my name echo in
memories.
Let golden peace seek you.

Once, your ray pierced into my
frail body,
but you don’t know where it entered:

Truly, one doesn’t know where the light enters.
yours is beatific;
mine, a utopian abode.

Oneshojo, a Nigerian poet-musician, editor and Pushcart Prize nominee, is the author of The Man Who Should Die and Other Poems, a winner of Literature Padi 2025 contest, tweets @kazeemocheni