Leaving Poem by Angela Bontle Ditumiso

I never imagined dragging my feet away
As they beg me to stay
Stay a little while longer
Await you to remember yourself
But I really have to leave
Because home has teethed and always wounds me with its razor-sharp teeth
And my life I have to keep

To think once upon a love song
My heart would speed up at the sight of you
Anxiously singing and plopping down its feet with joy
I called you home and
Home was a dome full of love
Sheltered me from harm

But now where there had been love terror is flourishing
Wild like daisies by the side of the road
My heart thuds at the mere thought of you
I don't know how many times I have whispered to myself to calm down
But then the wind mocks me with a false roar
I'm reminded of you

Used to swoon over you
But these days I become a clinking glass even in your absence
I'm almost too broken to drink from

Maybe I shouldn't have called you home
Maybe you've always been haunted