On Depression IV by Ayiyi Joel (19, Nigeria)

Trigger Warning: Mention of Suicide

​What is the weight of a body
When depression is the anchor holding
A boy from laughter ?
 It’s been two years now & a post on Facebook  
Reminds me of you—a girl

---

Who drowned in the sea of depression.
But a boy seeking peace in death
Is a seed watered by depression
Your posts on Facebook still reeks of
A star in descent. Your pain seeping out from the
Stories you wrote. There are ways I do not wish
To remember you—you, a girl drowning your body/
Eaten by depression/holding your breath yourself/
Turning your body to God in silence/just to be free
From the pain fastening it teeth round you/you hanging
Yourself/just to say you are tired of everything/
How you held that line so dear–“living is dying
& dying is living” ever since depression stepped in.
This is how I remember you: a beauty/
A flower/a rose fated to wilt before full bloom.
You, a fruit plucked by the hand
Of time before ripening/a song on my tongue.
 
Lines written in italics are culled from
Taofeek Ayeyemi's poem.

Ayiyi Joel, TPC XVI, is a young budding poet from Edo state in Nigeria. He was longlisted for the Akachi Chukwuemeka Poetry Prize and a semi-finalist for Under The Madness Poetry Writing month. He has works published/forthcoming in B'K, Rough Cut Press, Rigorous, Parousia, African Writers Mag and elsewhere.