Waiting Girl

I hope to love a New York girl
For she sat alone and sad
So I pledge her, my heart
And a union that would last

But slowly she shook her head
And so my hopes died
She was waiting for her lover
Who had gone to East?

A girl like you I said
Should wait for no man
Your lover must be steel
To be away for long

Again she shook her head
And then I had to leave
To cry and cry at night
For a beauty wasting away

I saw her years later
Her lover was still away
And there she sat as before
Hoping and looking East.

more by EMEKA ONYIA

Photograph by sixtwelve