Naphtalie by Mugabi Byenkya

*Note: 'Naphtalie' was published by the Poetry Platform of African Global Networks and was only available to be read for the month of July in 2020. Since then, the rights have reverted back to Mugabi Byenkya.

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Mesmerized / by those pools you call eyes / as I fall in, don’t want to dip I want to dive / wait a second hold up take a glance to the side / girl you got such a beautiful smize / smiling with your eyes making Tyra look intelligent Gracing I with your presence ever so benevolent / opposite sex attraction becomes irrelevant / because you’re a full moon but see yourself as a crescent I wrote that verse for a friend I wrote it as an attempt to release a way to squeeze rend and then mend these emotions inside of me personal psychiatry I used to say years before I went crazy needed psychology to bring me back from the edge years before these suicidal tendencies caught me slipping gripping onto a precarious ledge years before I met you and was reminded of the blues that I felt that you felt that we felt like wool fibers they felt attempting to melt into those creamy hues that you call eyes

Mugabi Byenkya is an award-winning writer, poet and occasional rapper. He was longlisted for the Babishai Niwe Poetry Award in 2015 while his essays and poetry have been published in The Good Men Project, The Mighty, and Skin Deep, in addition to over 25 other publications.

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