The Jasmine In The Cold Poem by Adeosun Olamide

He said he’d married me
He swore by the gods- my gods
How, how- you ask me
How, how- you mock and say true- folly
Those flowers, this gown, the ring
He brought- on his knee he tendered
Afore heavens and all holies-
We sat by the stars
Aye too- the moon served as witness-
There swore, aye he swore his love

Tart, is that what he called me?
Tell how then if wasn’t drunk when did-
Tell- how sure you so-
Go from- that says I conjure memories-

It was a raining night- the last one
He, that good boy took my arms
Took where the breeze breathe
My dear, he whispered’ I prayed this
There, sat me in the cold to hunger warmth
As tell, tell many nights ours to come
Then he raised my robes, caressed my thighs
Hunger his warmth snuffing my heart then
I undid, aye I undid my sleeve, unbuttoned all
And I unlocked, I did my thighs, so he may in
But morning- he was gone, my unspoiled with
This he who you say calls me what?

But tart, is what you said he called me
Tarts ain’t pure- you know
Or is he sick- that he forgot
Aye he is, he would die to see me beauty
Look at’ am I tart, do I look one, have I faded?
Then tis false all this, a play by the gods
For I lay still there by side, slumbering in his arms
Tis the slumber that art my fears- I know

Freezing, starving- means I here still
What am I without me heart?
From the terrible nightmare that lingers
I know truly where I am from
He loves me there,
There where freezing, starving shall take.