The Homecoming Poem by Alexandre Nodopaka

In the movement of sands
I perceive the passage of time.
Mainly when the Sahara hilltops

transform the geography overnight.
Today from behind what yesterday
was a mound, a Touareg

points his rifle in my direction.
Before I can stoop, the golden bullet
crosses the threshold of my flesh.

In the moment before it exits my heart
my life escapes with a whimper
leaving in my ears

the sonorous boom of sand
yet barely a squeak from me.
I'm too preoccupied

watching myself return into my mother,
my eyes struggling to decipher
through the dimness

the mystery of the birth canal
now tied at both ends with a silver cord.
All I sense is a tug around my neck.