I once met a girl
I took the girl in
Time passed
She refused to grow
I looked at the girl in the eyes and told her that she had three days to pack her bags and go
Zenzile looked up to the sky, held my stare then said
“No.”
We talked.
The next day, I wanted to cut down four trees,
She stopped me and said I should cut three instead of four,
“Hopefully, this time it will bring peace and justice for all these wars”
Then Zenzile told me she wished she had not despised herself all of these years
I asked her why, I was naive these days
She told me it was because she had already been tainted by the bitterness of others’ crops
They ate at every millimetre of her skin,
Inserted themselves into the deepest tissues of her heart
And slowly shattered her from within.
She told me she could not save her world nor the people inside.
I told her that oddly, she looked very calm.
We talked.
The next day, I had not heard Zenzile and her morning lullabies
I looked outside, long gone was the sunrise