'Love Cycle' by Chinua Achebe

He remains one of the greatest writers of the past century and his 1958 debut novel Things Fall Apart is still the single most widely read book in African literature.

To remember him, here is Love Cycle, a poem written by him in 1971.

Love Cycle by Chinua Achebe

At dawn slowly

the sun withdraws his

long misty arms of

embrace. Happy lovers

whose exertions leave

no aftertaste nor slush

of love’s combustion; Earth

perfumed in dewdrop

fragrance wakes

to whispers of

soft-eyed light…

Later he

will wear out his temper

ploughing the vast acres

of heaven and take it

out of her in burning

darts of anger. Long

accustomed to such caprice

she waits patiently

for evening when thoughts

of another night will

restore his mellowness

and her power

over him.

(From Beware Soul Brother and Other Poems – 1971. Published in the United States of America as Christmas in Biafra and other Poems -1971)

READ: 10 shocking things you did not know about Chinua Achebe