Midnight from the Verandah - A Haiku

By Chimezie Umeoka

The green ocean of trees

Flow past the litter of things

On my Verandah...

The mop flutters against 

The Western boat of the wind

There is no rain yet

The night is crisp dry

Like a lone-traveling Djinn

With eyes blind with dust

Somewhere, the fireflies

Are dying low, wings dropping 

On the silent Earth 

The dustbin regales 

Against the paint-sagging walls

Bruising its black lips

I dream of the stars

Little lights hanging above the mass 

Of sleeping bodies

I think about the sun

Walking slowly to meet the 

Eastern bed of clouds

And the mystic moon

Bringing cloaks of darkness to

A brave new world

It is so lonely here

My eyes awake with the empty void

My ears loud with dreams

But I will stay here

For many more dark nights, and

Many more sunrises.