The world always seems smaller at night When everything shrinks to its true size And the mountains and I see eye to eye.
The earth exhales, flattening under its false pretence, And those who go bare before the night await
A drop of mercy for who they are.
Night after night, they shrink with the earth, Hoping to become small enough to be forgiven, Small enough to be forgotten.
Smaller than a laughing dove, smaller than a cricket Smaller than the scriptures on the palms of forgiveness. But mercy never floods
How could it ever be enough When our suffering is just As long as the night?
Let mercy liberate the whole
Or is there truly no salvation for the lost To whom everywhere is home
And everywhere is longing?
I dream of a heaven without prayer A place free from want and desire.
But in this dream, there is a prayer in my spine A tickle in the most recluse parts of my marrow
Calling to me like a memory, searching for the end Of something I can never seem to reach.
Ugochukwu Onyema
