A Poem in which my Aunt Reincarnated in Me

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.