Transfiguration

Everything good dies, like a seized reed afloat on the sea,

Plundering the depths, taking breaths to glimpse what's above.

Love is the color of rainbows, a spectacle the leaves yearn to see,

Refusing to be tossed by the wind, they stand firm, dry and free.

My body, drawn from dawn's foam, where end times roam,

Is offered to the king's heavenly throne. A kiss, a second chance,

A poisoned blade to the throat, a sorrowful redemption blooming

Haven't my desires fermented, pungent as stored longing?

Have I spoken too much, offering my body for a bowl of gravy?

Have I no self-respect? I slap myself, warm cheek, rapid blood burst.

Deep inside, I throb like a rabbit without a core, living life too fast.

I lock eyes with strangers, clasping them in distrust's cellar,

Where shiny vengeances from my past rain down.

At last, I strip myself of this skin, casting it into a selenite salt lake,

Letting it disappear into shimmer. Rachel Chitofu is a medical student from Harare, Zimbabwe. She won South Africa's New Coin poetry prize in 2021.