BEFORE THE NIGHT ONCE FELL - Poem

BEFORE THE NIGHT ONCE FELL

The warm morning lights still drop down with dew,

With my eyes to the sunlight, only to catch a few,

The green scenery that awaits me treats me to its call;

I can only wonder how great it is to know what I saw,

To know and to live life.

I must tell you, the most beautiful thing I saw

Was the truth by a path way, where the critters crawled;

Two young ones, much younger than me,

Two young girls, two beauties to see,

Chatting and playing in the green.

Their hairs flew and glittered in the air,

Their lips moved as though there was no care;

Side by side, the girls shared moments,

Laughed, joked, played in excitement,

And then it came to me ...

"Talk and talk, talk as you might, 

Let your voice sound high above the heights;

Kids are wiser than most humans know,

They know who friends are, so no grudge they hold,

True friends are friends who don't chat alone."

There was another time, during the heat of day,

When the dews had all dried, and time too small to waste,

Walking by the yellow, and staring at the blue,

I trod across the shore way, beside the ocean view,

Walking and thinking about life.

Quickly, an accident, and I was sure to fall,

Two teenage 'Messis' pushed me, dashing after a ball;

I looked around and caught my breath

And saw the boys who'd broken my rest,

Running and chasing in the sand.

Side by side, with their hands swinging through the air,

Their legs running and galloping, like the wheels of the fair;

Sweat dribbling, laughter bustling,

Arm over arm, the boys there smiling,

And then it came to me ...

"Do, do, whatever you wish

Don't give a damn or just give it quick;

Kids have companions 'cause they're the same at heart,

You cannot make friends for them, you cannot choose or chart,

For true friends are play pals and are the same."

Yet again, before the night once fell,

Whether yesterday or last year, I really can't tell;

I was strolling up the hill way, up and down the heights,

And could see the city faraway - oh what a place of sight!

An evening for all mankind.

It dawned on me too late, that under a tree

Could be the best of love, there, it looked like a dream!

Two young people sitting under the tree,

Young grown-ups, male and female, their eyes together did meet,

Looking and loving under the leaves.

These two tender birds, their hands clasped,

Side by side they were, ignoring who passed;

With eyeball to eyeball, they spoke to one another,

With compassion and truth, professed devotion to each other,

And then I knew the words to say ...

"Oh what love! How boundless it is!

How it longs for all to be under its wings!

Kids know better how to share the gift of love;

With innocence and simplicity, they'll rise higher than the sun,

For true friends are friends whose love never ends."

What have you to say to me now,

That friendship is cheap, is simple and sound?

Tell you what, sadly, you don't know

That the gift of love is eternal, or do you have to be told

Why Love has brought you into this world?

Then again, it is the truth to tell,

"True friends know that true love is never self."

So here I stand, by way of the green, shores and leaves,

And here I am, I declare my greatest defeat 

In my battle against Love, now this I say:

"Friendship, for me, is all that matters today, 

And I cannot lie but cry, that love empowers life;

So say what you want, do what you want

Yet I will never deter from what I was taught ...

"True friends are a blessing that ever to life was brought,

They are never alone, they are the same, their love never ends."

Poem by Oluwatobi Ayeni

First written December 2020

Photo by Jack Redgate