Affections Lost: Poem by Ohikhuare Isuku

Come my beloved, come!
Don't move farther off, 
Your closeness strengthens my limbs.
Come to me, to my arms,
To crush the grey of my chest
With your tender bosom
Like the juicest pawpaw in the garden.
February has brought its  arid wind, 
And has placed fruits on every cashew tree.
Or, is this not February - 
The month of our love?
Oh, I doubt!
For at this time in the dim past,
We held on to each other, warming 
Ourselves in the sprawling meadows,
Smiling, our cheeks soft,
Our lips chatting in love language.

Or did our love fall?
Tell me! Do not let my ears shrink.
Save heavens, all things fall, 
Love inclusive, and what palls love.
So tell me, my tears, I'll hold,
Tell me why your face
Has become so costly,
Not even a million pearls can buy,
Tell me, why for many moonnights,
My aging hands longed
For your sheen, your soft skin,
But were left desolate.

Is it age that dispels you?
Speak at once!
Nobody's eavesdropping.
The earth is still
And the world's shut behind us.
Every being ages but God,
And for love,
A score soon becomes a decade. 

Remember those bright years,
Those days when we spoke
Not with our voices,
But ours hearts, our emotions.
Remember those years,
When the rains 
Left the fields green
For us to roll on,
Remember when our chuckles
Startled the little birds,
Whistling on swaying leaves,
On the straws of dancing grasses,
When the fading sun
Held its last smile to the world
While night ravaged from the east.

And remember my love,
When the night spread
Its black hue abroad,
Over our loft, over our love,
We became a whole,
Our warmth dissolving darkness,
Our closeness chasing away fear
Until the full moon 
Shone, brilliantly and alluringly
Over the terrace of our love -
Where we bathed in dry sands,
Churned ourselves upon the cool earth,
Our smiles, our light.

But those nights when the sky
Housed no moon, the world
Swallowed in its shadow,
We pressed against ourselves,
On my bedstead,
On our love's den,
Our warm embrace melting 
The night until the dawn crooners
Brought us hope of a forming dawn.

So move not away from me.
Drift not away from me
More than a foot length,
So I reach out to cuddle you,
Your lips glued to mine,
Our hearts speaking with waves
While our eyes interprete.
Do not mind age,
It's a ruse
Nature imposes to falter love.
But you by my side,
Though nature rules at last,
We shall struggle with it
Until our backs lay against
Our vaults, our eternal beds.

So come to me beloved, 
Come seek home in my arms,
My bedstead still bears
The sweet smell of your soothing tan.