Dear Uju,

As we approach the end of 2018, I initiated a “winter cleaning” with the family and guess what I came across?

A poetry piece I wrote in 2003… Wow… This was published in my high school literary magazine. I was surprised to find that I held onto it for years. It made me blush, but spoke to my soul.

Though I have not written a poetic piece in a long while, I will keep working to reconnect with my artistic spirit.

Here it is…

“As we sit in the yard,

Under the moonlight and starry sky,

The wind whistles softly among the trees.

It’s difficult for me to take part in any conversation, or to

Join other children playing underneath the trees,

I am focused on this eccentric view

I wonder if the others notice

I picture myself being carried away by the wind

Moving between the trees

As they wave their tenuous branches,

Like people dancing.

It’s amazing how their branches sway,

Uniformed and precise

Moving to the beat of this unknown rhythm

They sway gently,

Their slow monotonous movements hypnotize me.

I wonder what it would be like to become one of them.

Then I’ll be able to dance and sway to the same rhythm as they do.

Dancing and swaying to the beats of a rhythm unknown,

Under the moonlight and starry sky.”

Written by Uju Cynthia Okoye, 2003