Dread Paper Poem by Ayandare Mayowa

Never knew bad news can be this organized,
This innocent paper ostracized by an ill-mannered message, prophesying doom,
My body goosed, cheeks pale and pink,
Asking myself, ‘How did we get here? ’
How do professed and sworn lovers degenerate from honeymoon to worry noon?
From I can't live without you to I can’t stand you anymore?
From forever to it’s about time?
I sign, a one-time lover becomes stranger,
This marriage band binding nothing but resentment and anger,
I sign, our once revered union disappears like a puff of smoke,
Dies like candle in the wind,
Our once peaceful home crumbling like a pack of cards,
Fighting to be custodian, mum or dad,
Just like that, an end to a decade of marriage.
We are… were good together,
Never imagined the sun will one day rise with me holding this dread paper.
We were a factor,
Loved, envied, disliked in our neighborhood, community and church,
Whichever, to us it never mattered,
Friend, fiend or foe, all get an appointed smile,
Never plastic, it’s a by-product of the positive reaction between us two.
We had vision, mission,
We were going to contribute our quota to world population,
We will see the world and if possible prove it not round but square,
Our love will influence her citizens and subjects,
We will give what is ‘Caesars to Caesar’,
We were going to pay obeisance to her Kings,
Rub minds with her knights and noble men,
With our love, model the simple and her youths,
Even encourage the servant men and women maid.
A love so great we had, we reckoned not with worlds concept of impossibility,
We were going to grow banana in the Bahamas,
Plant cassava in Atlanta, Ofada rice in Panama,
Together, we were to defy odds,
Go without clothes in Canada, even freezing Alaska,
What is cold? After all our body is there to warm each other.
Happily ever after we will live, cultivating the fruits of our body to be fruitful branches in the Vine, our sufficiency.
Hmm… I mean… how did we get here?
On the other extreme side of passion and affection,
What are we doing here?
No, I am not signing this,
We both must sit to address this,
Of course we both derailed, but we still love each other.
Yes, I am calling her right now,
Ring, ring, ring,
Ring, ring, ring and ring,
Ring and ring and ring and ring and ring and rr…
Oh, how many times now, she wouldn’t even pick my call,
Isn’t that how we got here?
Degenerated to this, why I am now reading this,
The genesis of how our love stealthily flirts with its doomed revelation,
Denying ourselves quality and respectable communication.