Poem: “Night” by Wole Soyinka

Night

Your hand is heavy, Night, upon my brow,
I bear no heart mercuric like the clouds, to dare
Exacerbation from your subtle plough.

Woman as a clam, on the sea's crescent
I saw your jealous eye quench the sea's 
Fluorescence, dance on the pulse incessant

Of the waves. And I stood, drained 
Submitting like the sands, blood and brine 
Coursing to the roots. Night, you rained
 
Serrated shadows through dank leaves
Till, bathed in warm suffusion of your dappled cells
Sensations pained me, faceless, silent as night thieves. 

Hide me now, when night children haunt the earth 
I must hear none! These misted cells will yet 
Undo me, naked, unbidden, at Night's muted birth.

— Wole Soyinka

Resource Text

Soyinka, Wole. “Night.” in A Selection of African Poetry edited by Kojo Senanu and Theo Vincent, Longman, 1988.

Further Reading:

• Content Analysis of Wole Soyinka’s “Night”
• Themes in Wole Soyinka’s “Night”

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