ZERO IS STILL A BEGINNING
I became older before my birthday allowed it,
learned the mathematics of empty pockets,
how to divide one meal between two people
and still tell my sibling, “Take more,”
as though hunger were something love could negotiate.
There was no manual for becoming the responsible one,
no trumpet announcing, you are the man now,
just bills, small shoes, unfinished dreams
and a younger voice asking questions
I was too young to answer.
But zero frightened me less with time.
I discovered that nothing is not the same as nowhere,
that a bare road is still a road,
and a boy with empty hands
can still build a life with them.
I came from beginnings that looked like endings,
from rooms where possibility had no furniture,
and every step I took became proof
that starting from zero
does not mean you were born to remain there.
by
Nasirudeen Isola Muritala
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