Alone
for fiona foley

without you, Guru 
three and three make five 
when I switch on the lights 
everything goes dark 
- Bengali song.

Alone with you 
I am in my element.
I strut and chatter 
Like a weaverbird.

Words come to me
Like showers of rain,
And my soul convulses
With the power of song.

Alone without you
I drift in the shadows
Like a bird wounded in flight.

Grief consumes my soul
Like a long winters night,
And I can hardly sing in the dark.

© Olu Oguibe 
Deptford, 21 June 1995