Queen of Corn

Queen of Corn

A Poem by Opeyemi Jide-Ojo

How does the story start? From the beginning as usual? No that’s too not good; it’s not as easy as you think. This story starts from so many sides altogether. It continues from November, but with one new twist- not twist, that’ll make an evil air of it. Call it a blessing much sought for.

How do you tell the story of wonder? Or the wonder of a story when the first is wrapped in the second or the second in the first, for such is the story of wonder, one that I'm yet to forget for many stories to come. Pardon, the telling of this story fails me for the many words that all jump at once, howbeit I shall tell it as I can best; I shall write a poem of the matter.

This is the wonder that nature spoke to me,

Standing in the hot sun of a Wednesday afternoon while in conversation with another

And the veil opened- the sublime passed by and for the briefest moment I paused,

Hanging the conversation with the other- thankfully I picked again and the moment passed

To the sadness and the leaping of my heart- trust me it leaped.

And I cursed fate for making me in conversation at the time the sublime passed,

Praying at the same cursing, that fate give me another moment with the sublime

No conversations with another also while the moment lasts…

And it did, for fate did give me another moment with the sublime

While I was on another business. Now  I feared I’d lose the moment again,

So I asked the sublime to please stay and it did, thankfully.

I came back and I met my sublime waiting, and nothing could be more pleasant to the spirit

Than what met my eyes at the very moment I met with my sublime,

This is the beauty:

Clad with a robe of blue and black, she stands among the stars of nature,

Judging beauty in her pureness- no vile ever saw her,

And she is the stamp of the perfect, seal of nature, in the bloom of youth

And the strength of the morning. And we should before her, cower,

Not in fear, but in deepest admiration of the finished work of nature,

Crest of creation, she’s the child of the sun.

Eternity stole on a single breath, the mundane times I’d been chasing for till the moment,

And I truly forgot everything else- to gaze at the sun and live is the highest honor.

Robe of blue and black, and it was a wonder I could find words to say,

Or the presence of mind to say them, as I was greeted by another piece of delight-

Her voice silked through and the air stilled, carrying sound through time,

The space closed on me and I was all too aware of the sweet richness of that voice-

She spoke to me and I strolled along the edge of bliss, forgetting for a time what

The present should be like- the voice was beautiful is all can be said.

Then the final piece: her crown, coal black rows of corn to feed hungry eyes,

My hungry eyes, and they trailed in smooth ridges from her head to her back.

They seemed to have speech of their own, to sing a different song.

They appeared to dance as they stood in line, perfect stands, and I could walk through them

As they stared with such directness that was both alive and deep.

Perfect order, of the face and the voice and the crown, and I blessed the hand of nature

For the gift of this moment with the sublime-

I can’t say she stood, she might have been floating; I could hardly tell,

But this I can very easily tell: she was beautiful, and still I can hardly tell,

For the beauty is not easily described as you see clearer into the veil that wraps the beauty-

Veiled child, One of the Sun. Her lips sparkled with every smile her eyes gave off,

Her breaths came out easy, undisturbed; you’d hardly tell she breathed,

As her words dripped with the same smoothness of her person

(And my attention was still one, I wonder how)

Carried on the soft strength of her voice- they should forever ring in my ears.

And I fell back to the coal black rows of corn…

The moment ended, fate had played out, she was to leave,

And I had a strange peace that accompanies the fulfillment of a wish.

Her last words trailed on the air and she vanished, as quickly as the moment had come,

Leaving me with only one thing, a wide smile placed on my mind,

And it’s been there since that day, my sublime wonder with her coal black rows of corn.

© 2013 Opeyemi Jide-Ojo


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Added on September 30, 2013
Last Updated on September 30, 2013
Tags: queen, wonder, nature, corn, coal

Author

Opeyemi Jide-Ojo
Opeyemi Jide-Ojo

Abuja, Lagos, Nigeria



About
I am a poet, dancer and choreographer I enjoy weaving strands of fantasy with strands of reality to see what beautiful creations come from it. I could get dark sometimes (many times actually); matter .. more..

Writing