like a mother,
who has lost her unborn child.
Neria’s grave,
grief-stricken –
weeps.
its headstone backwards bending
the soil around it like the walls
of an old house cracking.
because deep in its womb,
today midday
Neria will die again
and go to heaven again
this time not alone.
for Oliver, her lover –
a poet
who knows how to kill the dead –
is finally laying her to rest on a page,
as a poem.
and he will lay his soul down,
next to hers;
and die too, to keep his promise of –
in life
in death
love is their covenant.
the grave,
apart –
it cannot keep them.
Siphiwe Hlongwane is a writer of all things poetic. His work has appeared on Praxis Magazine Online, Poetry Portion, Kalahari Review, Pick Me Up Poetry and FunDza.mobi.