𝗛𝗮𝗽𝗽𝗶𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀, 𝗚𝗿𝗶𝗲𝗳, A𝗻𝗱 𝗘𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆 𝗢𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝗧𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗜𝗻 B𝗲𝘁𝘄𝗲𝗲𝗻.

Tᴏ ᴀ ɢɪʀʟ ᴡʜᴏ ʙᴜʀɪᴇs ᴅᴇsᴘᴀɪʀs ɪɴ ʙᴇᴛᴡᴇᴇɴ ʟɪғᴇʟᴇss ᴘᴀɢᴇs ᴏғ ᴀɴᴄɪᴇɴᴛ ᴇɢʏᴘᴛs ʙᴏᴏᴋs. ᴛʜᴇ ɢɪʀʟ, ᴡʜᴏ ᴛʀᴀɴsғᴇʀs ᴇᴍʙᴇʀs ᴏғ ғɪʀᴇ ʟᴏᴅɢᴇᴅ ɪɴ ʜᴇʀ sᴏᴜʟ ᴛᴏ ᴀɴ ɪɴᴋ,

ᴀɴᴅ ᴛᴏ ᴀ ʙᴏʏ, ᴀ ɢɪʀʟ ᴀɴᴅ ᴀ ʙᴏʏ ᴀʟɪᴋᴇ, ʀᴇsᴘᴇᴄᴛɪᴠᴇʟʏ.

𝐀𝐦𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐨𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞

𝒉𝒂𝒑𝒑𝒊𝒏𝒆𝒔𝒔 𝒊𝒔 𝑪𝒉𝒊𝒈𝒐𝒛𝒊𝒆. The 𝑆𝑐ℎ𝑖𝑧𝑜𝑝ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑎 afflicted man whose speeches generate smiles as radiant as the sudden beam of sunlight illuminating a murky area, and laughter like that of a rusty screeching hinge; happiness is the slow stride of his backward moving legs moving in alignment with his arms that move in horizontal and vertical directions to his jocular self-composed Igbo songs.

𝐻𝘢𝑝𝑝𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴 i𝘴 a 𝘴𝘰𝘯𝘨; Happiness is 𝘊ℎi𝘨𝘰𝗓i𝘦.

ʜᴏᴘᴇ

𝒈𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒇 𝒊𝒔 𝒂 𝒏𝒂𝒎𝒆𝒍𝒆𝒔𝒔 𝒃𝒐𝒚 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒄𝒆𝒔 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒑 𝒂 𝒘𝒉𝒊𝒍𝒆 𝒂𝒕 𝒏𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕𝒔.

A boy who chokes in-between the pillow he stuffs in between his teeth. Grief is a boy whose eyes draw out water every night. Water mixed with a hybrid variety of pain and sadness; fear and loneliness.

𝐺𝑟𝑖𝑒𝑓 𝑖𝑠 ℎ𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑡𝑏𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑘; 𝐺𝑟𝑖𝑒𝑓 𝑖𝑠 𝑎 𝑛𝑎𝑚𝑒𝑙𝑒𝑠𝑠 𝑏𝑜𝑦.

𝖥𝖺𝗂𝗍𝗁, 𝖯𝖺𝗍𝗂𝖾𝗇𝖼𝖾

𝒇𝒂𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒊𝒔 𝒕𝒖𝒄𝒌𝒆𝒅 𝒃𝒆𝒕𝒘𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒒𝒖𝒊𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒍𝒊𝒑𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝒂 𝒘𝒊𝒅𝒐𝒘𝒆𝒓. Lips crushed under the chants of her prayers to a supreme being. Faith is the fickle frailing fingers of the widower that clung tightly to a rosary bead of many days seen. In fervent pleas for the promised good days. Patience is the widower failed by everyone alike yet awaiting the good days still.

𝘗𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦, 𝑅𝘦𝘴ili𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦

𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒂𝒏𝒄𝒆 𝒊𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒈𝒊𝒓𝒍 𝒘𝒉𝒐 𝒘𝒂𝒕𝒄𝒉𝒆𝒔 𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒄𝒂𝒑𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒆𝒅 𝒅𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒎 𝒔𝒏𝒂𝒕𝒄𝒉𝒆𝒅 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒇𝒍𝒐𝒂𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒌𝒚. Never to be seen again for a while.

It is the girl with a tired heart crushed by grief who looks up to dazzling stars with woebegone eyes. Begging it to send back to her, her dreams ─ 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑓𝑙𝑜𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑑, 𝑙𝑜𝑠𝑡 𝑜𝑛𝑒𝑠. It is the girl with a heart louder than her mouth, and a soul more numb than her body. 𝑹𝒆𝒔𝒊𝒍𝒊𝒆𝒏𝒄𝒆 is the girl who didn’t mind building dreams again from scratch.

𝐼𝑡 𝑖𝑠 𝑎 𝑔𝑖𝑟𝑙 𝑤ℎ𝑜 𝑑𝑖𝑑𝑛’𝑡 𝑠𝑡𝑜𝑝 𝑑𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑔; 𝑤ℎ𝑜 𝑛𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟 𝑠𝑡𝑜𝑝𝑠 𝑑𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑔.

Fawziyah Tijani is a creative writer skilled in scriptwriting, copywriting, ghostwriting, and storytelling. As an empath who connects more with people on an emotional level, she enjoys writing poems whose themes dwell on hope, faith, happiness, sadness, love, and perseverance.

When she’s not writing poems, she’s writing fictional prose whose themes centre on women’s subjugation in society and religious manipulation.

She’s an ailurophile as well as an introvert, who draws inspiration from writers like Maya Angelou, and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, amongst others.

Aside from reading, she also writes and daydreams in her leisure time.

SOCIAL MEDIA HANDLE (FACEBOOK): Fawziyah Tijani