LAMENT ROMANCE: "ELEGY OF OUR LOVE" BY SULAIMON KHALID

Facing the coffin

of what we once called love;

now dead, ready to be buried,

I hold my spade;

With ocean in my left eye,

sea in my right,

and a heart that keeps asking:

Is it over? Is our love truly dead?

Inside my skull

live memories of how it once lived;

seeing us together,

and I keep them like old letters:

too painful to read,

too precious to let go,

as we are no longer together.

I remember every promise

like I’m watching,

like I'm seeing the past again.

I saw nights

that we walked roads,

and when her texts; a voice

that wished me goodnight.

I remember how love began;

how it lived,

and how it left;

not suddenly,

but faded like evening light,

teaching the legs how to walk

when the eyes could no longer see.

© SULAIMON KHALID 

- Nigeria 

The poem portrays the end of a relationship as a funeral, with the speaker standing before the “coffin” of a love that has slowly died. Through memories preserved like old letters, the speaker reflects on shared promises, tender moments, and the gradual fading of affection rather than a sudden break. Ultimately, the poem captures grief, nostalgia, and the painful acceptance that love has quietly slipped away.