AS IT WAS IN THE BEGINNING

clouds of dust are frustrating veils between
time & eternity,
& walls between the spirit & the earth are made
of clay bricks.
i once carried my heart like a weight of lead
in my chest. i wanted to walk out of me, out of
reach of the gloom in this home of brittle bones.
i became the earth without form & void except
for the darkness upon the face of the watery deep.
& night after night, the darkness thickened till
i became a spring of dark prayers spurting out
in silence.
say, guilt morphed 5 foolish virgins into 1 silent
“p” in psalms, & the weight of iniquity sends
a man into agonising groanings.
my agony remained until a voice met me
in the space between the earth & sky, in the valley
of shadows, comfort & freedom came to me
as the voice of Christ booming from a far-off hill
saying, “it is finished!”
“it is finished!” was the conclusion of the old book
of life burnt in the fire of God’s love.
“it is finished!” was the intro of a new page blown
open for me by the wind of God’s Spirit.
& “it is finished!” was & always will be the title
of the new book of life written boldly in the crimson
ink of God’s grace.
how some things never change!
for as it was in the beginning, a voice was
a piercing finger of light tearing the veil of darkness
into shreds,
as it was in the beginning, salvation was God’s Word
moving over the face of dark waters & whispering,
“let there be light”,
& as it was in the beginning, God sees how i now carry
son-light in my belly, & he says, “it is good!”

BIOGRAPHY
Ayokunle Samuel Betiku is a Christian and a Nigerian writer who sees his fingers as bridges between his heart and the world. He was shortlisted for the 2017 Communicators League creative writing contest (flash fiction), and was a finalist in the Eriata Orihbabor Poetry Prize (EOPP) 2018. He has also been published in a few anthologies. He writes from the city of Ondo, and can be found on Facebook @Betiku A. Samuel, and on instagram @bas_writes.