"Portrait of the Lone Traveller" by Frank Njugi

after Mathew Daniel

In this journey the devil wears mascara in the small hours,

you pledge allegiance to her who talks with a scintilla

on riddles about you wrapped in intricate enigmas

and also lies of your non existent chimera,

a mirage in the sand on a pilgrimage of the spirit.

In the morning before your bus leaves

she asks if her tears can make an ocean,

to drown herself in one quicksilver dream,

to forget of her son : a will-o’-the-wisp that disappeared in a flick

but you tell of limericks from bards you have heard on your way,

on nebulous concepts for healing disguised as rumours.

And when you are long gone

they retell in small whispers

of a lone man who speaks the language of the gods,

and showed a possible metamorphosis;

if he ever shows up again they will thank him

by rejecting his coin....

Frank Njugi (He/Him) is a twenty-three-year-old writer and poet living in Nairobi, Kenya. He currently serves as a poetry editor for Writers space Africa, a reader for Salamander Ink Magazine and his work has appeared or is forthcoming on platforms such as Kikwetu Journal , 20.35 Africa , Kalahari Review , Olney Magazine , Ibua Journal and others. He tweets as @franknjugi.