JEREMIAD: "THE LONELINESS OF WE" BY SULAIMON KHALID

In the morning,

when a voice ought to say wake up.

In the noon,

when a hand ought to be my fan,

when NEPA has done as usual.

In the night,

when air ought to blow my hair

while on someone’s thigh,

I’m always alone;

just me where it ought to be we.

On busy roads,

where two shadows ought to tie

while walking the ground,

mine walks alone,

pretending it isn’t tired of being one.

At nightfall,

when a voice ought to ask

if I have eaten,

it is always my stomach that whispers,

saying I have one thing to feed.

When rain falls,

when the sun reaches its highness,

I look for a shoulder

to rest my wet head,

to cool my hot head;

the weather always meets me as one.

Sometimes I ask myself,

in my dawn and dusk,

about the missing rib they speak of;

do I even have one,

or is it lost completely?

© SULAIMON KHALID 

- Nigeria 

The poem portrays a speaker’s persistent loneliness in moments where companionship is expected, from morning to night and across everyday experiences. Through vivid domestic and social images, it contrasts the ideal of “we” with the reality of being alone. It concludes by questioning whether the promised sense of completeness or shared existence truly exists for the speaker.