on a morning, whitebird
greets the window of my room
with soft sweet songs, from a nearby tree.
but my appearance has
stirred up a startle. so she flutters, making the
leaves rustle before exiting the limb.
and she never returns. I sit
beside the window, all day, darting
my eyes after every flight but those
aren’t hers. I sit beside the window,
using my ears to collect the tweets falling
down the sky; not hers. she’d never return.
I fear, she might have been hit
by the stone from a boy’s sling
and lost a leg, a wing.
I fear, she might have been hit
by the bullet from a man’s gun
and lost her life, her home.
so when darkness falls, it falls into her empty nest.
and I go to bed, leaving the window open.
in my dream, I see a bat enter my room,
hovering round the ceiling.
its screech has stirred up a startle. and my mind
flutters like sea waves. so while jumping
out of the room, I jump out of my body.
what it has become now is an empty nest.
Olusoji Obebe
is a law student at the University of Benin, and a Nigerian creative writer. He’s a BoTN nominee & 2nd Runner-up for Poetically Written Prose 2022. His works are published in local and international mags and journals which include Brittle Paper, Salamander, Pepper Coast Lit, Morrab Library, Lumiere Review, & elsewhere.