Gather My Blood, Rivers Of Song

Remi Raji

I 
Sometimes a man gets tired of going to sea as now 
when the voices I hear speak nothing but shame, and silence. 

When the calabash goes to the river and never returns 
The carver is drenched in tears, the drinker is famished. 

Sometimes all we have is the inheritance of loss 
the infidel body wrapped in the thickness of sins 

There is wickedness beneath the tranquil sea. 
And the heaviness above craves the lightness of love. 

So I return to the red sea that flows in the vein. 

II 
certainty is far behind in the coast, and it is up behind the hills 
each time you think you arrive there, it is uncertainty that lies waiting 

To embrace fire, you must breathe the wind

To claim the sea's presence, you must share the river's route; 

To die you must be afraid to live... 
And if you cannot kill the smoke, why do you start the fire? 

To become the sorcery of days 
You must possess the gaze that blinds beyond the light. 

III 
you were not in these places, but there's a scent of each in you 
i should know 
i wished you were beside me in lagos, mealha, cachopo, 
in portugal, 
the rustic air reminds me of the valley of a thousand stories, 
as in durban, south africa, which awakens the midsummer night's dream 
of the bright woodlands of Stockholm, Sweden, 
where I could read my palms and the fine letters 
of jared diamond's guns, germs and steel… 
the little streets knew our steps, lost in a circle of eden, innocent to the lights 
as it was in the delicate neck of the dance in addis, ethiopia 
as it was in salzburg, austria, where friendship was won suddenly by ideas and 
instinct 
as it was in Cambridge, uk where we organized parties for books and stars 

and i wished you were close by in the crazed joys of riga, 
and ventspils, latvia... 
and even absent in the many other places, you always remain 
as the sturdy baobab in my heart's savannah... 

in the mouth of night, every firefly has your attitude 
gather my blood, rivers of song... 

IV 
i love you as 
the sun kisses the day, 
i love you as 
the moon wraps the tender night, 
i love you as 
the rivers run into the rimless sea, 
i love you as 
the wind caresses my naked skin 
in the promise of rain, 
i love you as 
love is; and because they say love doesn't last, 
i don't want to love you anymore, 
i just want to be, 
with you. I want to walk your coast 
in silence, in laughter, and in tears, 
one with you as the colour of night. 

I want to marry you again in the age of enlightenment 
You will be my muse 
You will kill me and resurrect me 
You will make me dance to the song in your eyes 
You will make me all over and I will be made 
You are the lovely stretch marks over my bones 
You're the sweetness of day, the lovely mystery of night, 
and the everlasting breath... 

i want to do to you what needles of rain do 
to the parched earth 
i want to do to you what the morning sun does 
to butter nuggets 
what the honey bee does to the pollen in the shrub 
i want to hide in you, and hide you in me, 
that the world will end and come alive again, and again 
i want to love every alphabet that spells your name. 

Gather my blood, rivers of song.

Remi Raji

Remi Raji is a Nigerian poet, scholar, literary organiser and cultural activist. Raji’s first collection of poems – A Harvest of Laughters (1997) – has won national and international recognition.