Today our poet Jenna Plewes wonders, in this affecting poem, with some hint of regret, what became of two young people in Sierra Leone all those years ago. It is Day 775 of the Daily Poems.
Carved ebony statuette
Slant light from the table lamp
explores a calm impassive face
large eyes with heavy lid
lips sealed, thoughts buried deep
I know this man, his warm voice
talked long into the night with him
walked Devon lanes, hand linked to his
I was 18, he was 25, studying law.
He offered me a road, a choice
to leave the land I knew, join
a nation forging its identity
factions surging like hormones.
Could I have shared his dreams
his bed, worn his wedding ring
grafted myself in him, born fruit?
I hold the little statuette he carved
for me, heft the smooth nakedness
vulnerable black skin unblemished
remember that look of quiet certainty
wonder what became of him
and of that fledgling woman
teetering while he flew.
Jenna Plewes
The country was Sierra Leone, and he was returning to government
from Jenna’s collection ‘Holding the Light’: Hedgehog 2024