He gallops into my dream every night

Carrying sprinkles of stars on his polished armor as though a heavenly knight.

He would join me in the waterbed,

And we would swim till I hear the morning birds

And wake with my pants wet and dripping.

But back in reality, he never returns my stare.

He sweeps by like I was not there,

His eyes always masked in those sparkling sunshades.

Their glints in the sun ignite me ablaze—

A pseudo cause to my charred fate.

Still, I like to think;

Perhaps behind those glasses is the same fire;

Maybe under those piles of straight cloths is the same desire;

Maybe he always looked back, but only when my gaze was away;

That “I love you” is what he always parted his mouth to say

Before remembering that that feeling is contraband,

That this is Nigeria and, like him, I am a Man.

Godwin Ebuka is a graduate of Philosophy from the University of Abuja Nigeria. He was born in Zaria, Kaduna State to parents from Nnewi-South in Anambra State. He is a poet, a screen-writer, a political commentator, and an entrepreneur currently based in Abuja.