Waiting.

By Thato Sekgobela
Form B, Pitseng High School
Leribe Dirstrict, Lesotho

Now I sit in solitude waiting breathlessly
Every time I exhale my frost
Bitten breath would come visible before me
Fogging up the view of distance
I could not take any chances

So I stopped breathing
Hoping to see you return
But in turn I suffocated
Dying in my own skin
Just waiting

Being raised by the Word, I treated
You like a prodigal son
When you said you wanted to leave
I gave you a suitcase
I opened the door and watched you walk away

I sighed and heard the soft whispers
Telling me where you had gone
To a place you had been
To a past you had seen
To a place you had been
To a past you had seen

Promising no return
Yet I waited breathlessly
Time passed and sucked life out of me

Then those soft whispers
Became tiny molecules of my memories
Memories of your smile and laughter
Memories of my last goodbye
So I breathed and I exhaled
And breathed you away

The above poem was a submission for my "short-stories from Basotho youth" book-project.