Ode to Toyin

BY UMMKULTHUM Hassan

Photograph via @ 3tsitra on Twitter.

ODE TO OLUWATOYIN SALAU

You lay in the cold earth and I think it unjust 

How a creature like you rests in a doleful grave;

Detached from this world but never forgotten, 

I promise to remember you, beautiful one

And my thoughts of you: they hover around

With pixie-like wings, they pass swiftly too

I mention to God of your loveliness and plead

For an abode above the heavens, safe with him

My daughters shall have skin the likes of hers

And in their little hearts: courage like that of hers

Pitch black hair that dazzles when damp like hers

Their speech full of life and wisdom just like hers

I shall narrate to them stories of a girl named Toyin

A girl with dreams so gold that gold envied her

I’ll tell them how her skin shone under the sun 

How she died fighting for its beauty to be noticed

All my life I shall remember you with my poetry

And I’ll send odes to the angels who look after you

Telling them how you were so powerful to destroy

So they hasten to send you to a daybreak paradise.

Ummkulthum Hassan is a 20-year-old Tanzanian writer who was born and lives in Qatar. She changes dreams into personal myths, sends letters to the moon, and writes odes to the fairies of her childhood. You can find her on Instagram at @kulthumhbk and on Twitter at @kulthumhbk.