The war, the lover and the owl - poetry by Tsitsi S.A. Sachikonye

  

“The violence of love is as much to be dreaded as that of hate.''

Henry David Thoreau

 A week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers

Beyond war

is a desperate night.

I listen to the jiggle

of centipedes

their legs studded with warts.

Upon an ant colony

lichen creeps like grief

my tears,

an absinthe of sloth,

drip onto the devil’s leaf

while the emperor moth

flutters his wings in fright.

Underwater jets murmur

as I stir,

as I blur.

I hear

the muffle of winds

rapt with disquiet

and rain trickle on bulbs.

Again,

the grass wears its blouse of dew

and your neck slinks

like a spook.

I revel

in the tint of your eyes

a raven,

trapped in two pits.

Clouds flit

in azure skies

they are just as shy

as you.

Those I loved,

I buried in war.

My body is medused.

Spiky roots

writhe between my nostrils.

Angst crawls,

thoughts prickle

and brawl like dragons.

Those I loved,

I buried in war.

Within my wretched heart,

I wrest my wrath.

There,

beneath the edifice,

an awry grey slithers.

Biography

 Tsitsi S.A. Sachikonye is a 25 year old Zimbabwean currently completing her Master of Social Science degree in French & Francophone Literature at Rhodes University, Grahamstown South Africa. She is also a professional singer and song writer. Tsitsi extremely enjoys learning a new language, travelling, literature, singing, creative writing and performance poetry.