I circled your bed at midnight
chanting love me,
then made your silence my poison
& died
died
& still didn’t have you
in the brief, bitter afterlife
that ensued
imagine this wasn’t a dream
would you wake up
and wade to sea
with my soul?
would you remember me?
broken boat
witch with no coven
& no spell book
voyeur at your bedside
glaring?
cast a shadow over your name
and let me live there
consummate our love posthumously
throw a net over my apparition –
I’d do anything not to fall, unheld
swim back to the shore
alone, boat with no oar
save a jilted ghost
with waves for a dress,
dead but
still desperate
for your affection
the waves change course
you wake up with my name
seated at its throne,
your tongue
which is to say
you are home now
I will no longer beg for what is mine
Nkateko Masinga is a Pushcart Prize nominated poet from Pretoria, South Africa. She is the author of three poetry collections: ‘The Sin In My Blackness’ (2015). ‘A War Within The Blood’ (2016) and ‘While The World Was Burning’ (2017). Nkateko’s work has been published in the 2017 edition of U.S journal ‘Illuminations’ and she is a 2019 Fellow of the Ebedi International Writers Residency.
Social media handles:
Instagram: @nkateko_masinga
Twitter: @Nkati_M
Facebook: Nkateko Priscilla Masinga