Sleepwalking, Sleeptalking, Daydreaming

(after Langston Hughes)
 
I was sleepwalking and sleep talking one day,
I asked my shadow;
Jesus was a downpour & Lazarus
Was a compacted soil,
Is this how to define reincarnation?
 
A farmer dissected the head of pineapple from
Its body, and was buried under the soil.
Farmers must have believed in reincarnation, isn't it?
Go, ask them. My shadow said.
 
A vast river once asked me, gently, to embrace her.
In the stead, I dragged myself home, into the
Bathroom, let the water run freely on my whole,
Even though I was losing my head, the coolness i
Felt made me realize that my neck was doing a good
Job keeping my head from falling.
So, I daydreamed;
How about a life that never makes an ocean out of 
The tears of grown men? A world that turns not the
Sweat on the brows of women into little lakes?
Earth where I do not have to harbor, in my belly, the
Shattered dreams of innocent children at the expense
Of my mental health? The universe that makes failure a failure
In the protruding eyes of success?
 
I woke up and I thought If reincarnation was
Possible, I would, like Hughes, wrap the
Melodies of all hearts, in a blue cloud-cloth, away
From the too-rough fingers of the world.

​

BIO:
Ayobami Kayode is a student interested in writing and academics. He is a Literature in English student at Usmanu Danfodio University, Sokoto. He is the Interviews Lead of Book O’Clock Review and the editor in chief of The Poetry CLUB UDUS. His works have been or published or forthcoming in konya shamsrumi, punocracy, àtẹ́lẹwọ́, BBPC anthology, icefloepress, cult of Clio, isele, fieryscribe, Kalahari and elsewhere. He hails from Ibadan, Oyo state.
 
He tweets @AyobamiKayode15. 

 
 
Note:
In a blue cloud-cloth away from the too rough fingers of the world was borrowed from Langston Hughes' poem, The dream keeper.