'The Refuge of the Refugee' by Jumoke Verissimo

In the trial of your cauldron heart

you may boil the stone

that burdens Africa into alcohol,

If I were to dream of meeting you on the waters,

I’ll turn you away from an ocean of trafficked debates

so even if ships are left without captains or you,

there would still be a future sailing into place

And as you stay at home like shells on a beach

couched in that language that’s spread on sands?

I’m inside your dream where you are awake,

though you’re eating the sounds of a lover’s snore

and retiring your ears from honks and street rustles

You can dream in your dream if you want to

the bed this night is not a place for sleep,

I will tell the world your tale.

I’ve entered your dream to meet solitude;

roll up your blanket and embrace some angst.

Jumoke Verissimo is the author of the award-winning collection of poems, I Am Memory. Her poems are in translation in French, Italian and Japanese. She is a recipient of the Chinua Achebe Centre Fellowship, and is currently a Graduate student at the Institute of African Studies, University of Ibadan, Nigeria. This poem was first published on Bakwa Magazine.

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