The prayer is for the dawn to break,
but somewhere, say, in Gaza, every mouth
tongues litanies for the night to linger on,
like the innocence of childhood. I mean,
some prayers have their wings clipped,
not because the genuflecting knees are capped
with sins; or the mind reeks of dirt but that,
when the prayers fly to the sky, they might
become bodies riddled with slugs. I prefer
the safety of my prayer; at least somewhere,
say, in Gaza, lovers can cuddle under the
canopy of the night, as the hands distributing
the slugs explore the dark landscape
of their farms in a romp to extinction.
Rasheed Ayinla Shehu (RAS) hails from Ilorin, the capital of Kwara State. He is a graduate of English and Literary Studies from the University of Ilorin. Currently, he teaches English at Migration Model College, Irewon, Ijebu Ode, Ogun State. A fellow in Sprinng Writing Fellowship Cohort 8, his work has appeared or is forthcoming in Ake Review, the Kalahari Review, the Muse Journal, Inkspire Magazine, the Fiery Scribe Review, Afrihill Press, the Stripes, and the World Voice Magazine.
