"Metamorphosis" by Nnabuike Onah

I

I moult gradually

leaving behind the me

in the evening stories of women,

the sand-top laughter of playing children,

the letters of classroom repetition

Of what I am becoming

my mind cannot think of,

the mirror of life suffers;

and image of the jagged reflection

is nothing like me.

II

The fires of childhood are gone

and the fireplace damp

from dews that water the night

and the kindling that cannot kindle,

I am cold.

The flames that warmed us

ate up our skins

and our saviours killed the fire

and the only thing left is burnt

and cold.

III

There, was our comrades’ grave

and nothing sprouts out of it

except the tree of memory

with a thousand fruit of bitter lips

and roots running deep like blood.

Here was the battlefield

and the deathbed of our fathers

who lived bravely

and died as nothing

but with tags - collateral damages.

IV

Do not ask me what I was

or what I am becoming,

I do not know the answers

just ask me one question,

what am I now?

I am nobody

but another face in the crowd changing

with bitter fruits and deep roots

but when I am done moulting,

I may become a monster.

Nnabuike Onah studies Political Science at the University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Oyo State.