Cupid And A Strange Town: A Poem by Victor Oladejo

I

Cupid enters a town, today they celebrate love, his greatest weapon,
On a corner of a street, an old woman seats on a stool,
She holds a bowl in her hand, and her eyes hold a prayer,
Her offspring smiles at a passerby,
He is her friend and their angel,
He sees the prayer on the old woman’s face,
A rose blossoms at the left side of his heart, a fire grows on the right,
He reaches for his pocket and his fingers dive into its fold,
At the bottom, they meet a crisp note, stained with blue,
The fire at the left side of the heart leaps at the flower and consumes it,
He drops the blue paper and said :
Allah bamusa!
He shakes his shoes and leaves.
The prayer leaves the old woman’s face, and enters her daughter’s face,
The old woman drops the bowl.
Cupid flaps his wings and leaves.

II

On n another corner of the street, Cupid sees a girl,
She is seating on a stool,
Her heart is a canvas with a masquerade painted on it,
A steward hovers around like a lion, his eyes are a furnace,
His heart is a canvas with an eagle painted on it,
Cupid stares at the Man, at the canvas, at the eagle.
Her lover arrives, and they open like flowers,
The masquerade in the girl’s canvas transforms into a dancing woman,
The lover’s heart is a canvas,
A man beating a drum is painted on it.
They start a song, it tells a strange story,
It speaks about love.
The steward leaves and returns with a tray,
The girl and her lover make merry.
The song stops, the merry ends,
The lover’s hand dives into the fold of his pocket,
They meet a brown note,
He shows the steward,
He shakes his head,
The eagle on the steward’s canvas transforms into an eagle with its prey,
The lover and the girl follow the steward,
They enter a room filled with vessels,
The lover and his girl bend over the vessels and begin to clean them.
Cupid shakes his head and leaves.

III

In another corner of the town, cupid sees a man,
His heart is a canvas and a cloud is painted on it,
His daughter stands close by,
Her hand is up, her eyes hold a prayer,
The daughter’s heart is a canvas, a desert is painted on it
He reaches for his pocket, his fingers meet a crisp note stained with blue,
Cupid flaps his feathers
“The love of a father is eternal!”
His heart says,
The cloud on the man’s canvas transforms into a man feeding his family,
The man drops the note and leaves.

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