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A Poem in which my Aunt Reincarnated in Me

  • Tolulope Ogedengbe
  • May 7, 2022
  • 1 min read



by Tolulope Ogedengbe


The day my aunt fell to death,

the house became heavy

with the aura of mouths

sore with grieving songs.

I was asked to sing a dirge in the middle of a rain

as would a soldier to his fallen friend.

I opened my mouth to the void of the night

and a bird in my throat broke free.

today, I felt my dead aunt reincarnated in me,

as I watch a woman surrender to grief, to everything

likened to tears and memories that remind me of a house where relatives burn candles

to mourn the demise of their loved ones.

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