By: Edwin Olu Bestman

verily I say unto you/
love should be a democracy/
of the people/ by the people/ & for the people

these are truths/
stolen from the lips of a broken pavement/
its smile trapped in cobwebs

I am writing for those nights that I cried under/
when fear gripped my untamed hearts

love should be democracy/
this is why X & Y fall in courtship simultaneously/
with bare feet and wild thoughts/
obeying commandments of feelings

without democracy/ I am dead/
scattered pieces of my body lay frozen/

i once touched my chest but couldn’t find my heart/
that’s why I am learning a new language/
plant it under the bed of my tongue
that sadness and darkness are natural cousins