ISSUE 5 | JULY 2022 | REINCARNATION
There is yet no death for a soul buried
in the cry of a newborn; the seventh day
is not the day of rest for an ancestor.
The earth ingresses whatever won’t die,
vomits it from fleshy dust and christens it
Babatunde—the father returns from bones
to life. Death, where is your sting? Grave,
where is your victory? The son says in his
cry, My father and I are one, he works in
me. Babatunde—the child is the father of
the man. Don’t you know whoever will
not die will wear the name and the body
of the living, after he has forsaken his old
skin like a serpent? The child’s eyes have
seen from afar—on seat, the tallest palm-
tree which the father cannot see even from
the top of a roof. An ancestor shawls him-
self with the tenderness of a newborn and
dances to the whims of Olodumare when
He pleases to wrap His glory in mystery.
Olalekan Daniel Kehinde
Olalekan Daniel Kehinde is a writer and an undergraduate in the University of Benin where he studies English and Literature Education. He has been longlisted in NSPP 2020, shortlisted in FPC, PIN 2020, 2nd Runner-up PIN 10-Day Challenge March 2022, and a finalist in NNDP 2020. His poems have appeared (or forthcoming) in PIN Anthologies, Peace Exhibits Journal, African Writers Magazine, Inkspired, Woven Poetry, The Shallow Tales Review, Upwrite Magazine, BPPC Feb-March anthology and lots more. He is on Instagram and Twitter as @dapenmustgrow
Photo by Pawel Czerwinski on Unsplash