A small act of kindness

Ridwan Fasasi

The Almajiri is the most visible tragedy seen on the streets of all northern Nigerian cities and beyond —February 18, 2022, Vanguard News I've never seen God more closely than in the eyes of the man who gives a penny of softness to a boy. The man lifts the windows of his imaan & offer his hand into what another will call sadaqah. Even in stillness, it doesn't take much to understand how it is enough to heal the hunger of the boy & his fragile body. It takes more than one stretched hand to name kindness. I have live here for a while, & this is how I remind myself the city’s tenderness is only the unfolding of its landscape. Its blue winged history perching on everything it touches.The scent of the air thickened with the blood & scent of its people. Boned-dusk in the voice of the adhaan—gathering a congregation of believers. The boy is sitting in front of the mosque. His bowl, tied with a rope, is still craves what will quench its new thirst. I am searching for windows that open to love in my pocket. I, too, have grown to envy what my hand could offer. Like the boy, I, too, prefer a god who makes no promise beyond the one that says at the end of my misery, there's a door the size of the hand that will do the opening.

About Ridwan Fasasi

Swan I, whose works have appeared/ are forthcoming on ANMLY Lit, Eunoia Review, Lucent Dreaming, Strange Horizon, SprinNg, Poetry Column NND, and elsewhere, is a Nigerian Poet based in Sokoto. He is a 2025 Pushcart Prize Nominee based in Sokoto. He tweets @Ibn_Yushau44