In the mornings,
I run past him. He starts
the day by reading his bible, says
a little prayer and then mends
clothes and shoes. I wave at
him, he briskly waves
back, and continues. I run
past him – away from & towards
home. We’ve both left homes that
ask of us repatriations for
a new home that asks for
our departure dates. He waves
again, and I return it with a
quick smile, running towards home
to go mend words. My words, like the
clothes he mends, need strong
threads to stick them together. We
are both tailors, trying to mend
our ways back home.
Babatunde Fagbayibo is a poet and law teacher. His poems and short stories have appeared in web and print based anthologies such as Poetry Potion, Jalada, Kalahari Review, Aké Review, African Writers, Vox
Poetica, Aerodrome, Absolute Africa, Litnet,
Imbiza, Imbizo, Agbowó and Red Ogre Review.