TELL ME YOUR NAME
May I call you
The lady I met at chemistry class
With teeth of crystal glass?
The teeth that disperses
Your radiant smile into a rainbow
On the walls my heart
May I call you the lady
Who walks with the steps of queens
And talks with the voice of banana?
The steps that carry you wherever I go-
The voice that questions why I follow
You like your shadow
May I call you the lady
Who never looks at strangers with stern?
When I —with my friend— take turns
To nauseate you with nuisance
You bury us in the depth of your smile
Can I call you lilly of the wild?
Your pulchritude makes butterflies shy
Of their garments— the peacock's pride dies
At the sight of you
Can I call you wind of the night?
Your humility humiliates
Donkeys before their masters
May I call you all the names
I would a sugarcane dame?
I may scribble them in an endless poem
With light and post it on your forehead
But my heart can never unlearn yearning
To know that Name Daddy
Moulded from stars to crown your birth
Whisper it into my ears
I want to stitch you to my chest
With friendly threads that never will tear
©Sarpong Kumankoma
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