Before you die

Before you die,
taste the mango with both hands sticky,
let the juice disgrace your shirt.

Before you die,
forgive someone who is not asking,
just to feel the iron bars melt in your chest.

Before you die,
quarrel with the ocean,
shout your name into its mouth
and wait to hear how small it sounds.

Before you die,
teach a child your secret song,
so that your breath may echo
in another throat.

Before you die,
burn the letter you never posted,
scatter its ash in the wind,
watch how it refuses your control.

Before you die,
touch the hand of a stranger
as if it were your mother’s.

Before you die,
watch the moon all night,
and let it remind you
how patient light can be.

Before you die,
stand in the rain without shelter,
let the sky baptize you
without a temple or a priest.

Before you die,
love once without bargaining.

Before you die,
kneel on the earth,
press your ear into its ribs,
listen,
for the worms are already practicing
your welcome.

Before you die,
accept the truth,
that the world will go on,
with or without your footsteps,
and the earth, untroubled,
will carry your bones
the way it carries trees and rivers.

Majekodunmi O. Ebhohon is a Nigerian poet and playwright. He is the author of ‘The Great Delusion’, winner of the ANA Prize for Drama, 2025. He writes from Benin City, Edo State, Nigeria.
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