WHO SHALL KISS THIS MAID

Who shall kiss this maid

once for this she was paid

for long her tide was in the high

but now no wares to trade

like a flower, she’s wilted.

Who shall kiss this maid

a veritable courtesan

glossy and silken-haired at prime

now but a bag of grime,

wrinkled and withered like age

the younger ones have taken over

 it’s a vicious circle they’ve got.

Again who shall kiss this maid

she’s as a ball that has lost its bounce

doomed for what they were

doomed more for what they are.

Who shall kiss this maid

you perhaps but not me

faces coloured like billboards

advertising a fight long lost

skin marked and stretched thin

arid, parched and worn

soiled pores of her rotten fruits

so soiled they’ll defy redemption.

Oluwole