I could only love this once,
cast my heart upon a spade
and bury it in the bowels of the earth,
till all hopes wither and die,
and turn grey in the ink of memory

I could only love this once,
sit by the moan of the moon
as I fall, head-first into a valley
then the crows hum
and the road slithers,
the world, deafened and silenced
by sinister sappors of cardiac crack

I could only love this once,
sink my wish bottle to the
depths of the sea,
or I could drown myself
in the ocean, till the fiendish
waters cast me adrift as human-wreck,
and wash me towards the shore

I could only love this once,
to see her walk that downhill road
till I could see her no more,
the ink of heart break
vanishes as the magic
of time tends my wounds.
                                   By Kakraba Afful