Crystal Tettey

Forever meant tomorrow
How short eternity was
The vows; cliché-ritual
A prayer for, not a promise of.

The white;
To be soiled by vanquished purity
To mourn in restored maidenhood
To efface the mist of reality
An emblem of the passion that only is.

Faceless witnesses;
Strangers in life’s latter years
Fugitives at the expiry of love’s sentence.

Bells;
Monotonous melancholic chimes
A reminder of the disharmony of
Disjointed hearts
Languishing petals
Withering glitter
Vulgar fan mail
Putrid desire.

Love;
Cheapened by the ugliness of familiar hues
Unflattered by the beauty of age
Ravaged with the Caribbean dream of
Carriages and caramel
Feathered hats and feisty beach parties
Bared bosoms and baroque barbecues

A caricature of blooming morbid caresses

Crystal Tettey
Accra, Ghana