There is a fire burning beneath my skin
more ruthless than your clergy’s rage
on worship days.

Do not imagine this. Some caked bread
is better not shared––I’ve swallowed this one.
This is not me displaying my pains on a 5D screen.

The smoke erupting from my body is why
the neighbourhood’s nose breathed questions.
And yes, this is the answer you seek.
Forgive me. I am stingy with the spirit.
Let my body alone be filled with it until I am
reduced to fine particles on the palms of earth
until I become the regalia of ash worn by wind.
Be alive, yes, live in a peaceful piece but become waters
––water is life. Become waters. Be alive. Be life itself.

Friend, I shall burn. A cut of this fire said so in a foreign
tongue. It took me a while to crack this hard nut.
Forgive me for not telling you soon enough
that I am the brown pigment on your roof.

In a flash, be waters––
hug me into life eternal.
You live. I would leave and live in you.

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Blessing Omeiza Ojo is a black bard married to an Enchantress. He is the Chairman of Hill-Top Creative Arts Foundation, Abuja. He is a contributor to literary journals with poetry surfacing in The Deadlands, Cọ́n-scìò, Split Lip, Olney, Praxis, and elsewhere. His literary awards include the 9th Korea-Nigeria Poetry Prize (Ambassador Special Prize), the 2020 Artslounge Literature Teacher of the Year Award, the 2021 Words Rhymes & Rhythm Nigerian Teacher’s Award, and the 2022 Maryam Aliyu Award for Best Teacher (Male). He is presently a creative writing instructor at Jewel Model Secondary School, Abuja, Nigeria.