Ink and Water by Keren-happuch Garba (17, Nigeria)

I watched the rise of sulphur smoke enthrall the cloudless sky
As it mingled with old and babe vapours--
"Like ink in water",
That's how Ma would describe it.

---

It was a menagerie combined as conflicting truths, 
Two sides of a coin,
One head, one tail, same body, same space
Paradoxes interspersed with metaphors,
Their true nature blinded.

This is how it ends.
This is how the head defeats its tail and the tail its head
And the body, not so evidently rescued from its tragedy
Looks into the dust with dents.

You should see how the shore welcomes it,
Grains of sand running through its atoms,
The rise and fall of nearby tides pulling nearer
Without ever stopping till it reaches it.​