Nigeria Poetry Magazine

Nigeria Poetry Magazine –

"That Hidden Tenderness" by Emmanuel Igiegba Okodo

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May 15th, 2026

Nigeria Poetry Contest #2 – First Place

That Hidden Tenderness

by Emmanuel Igiegba Okodo

I dreamed of us again.
We were together, and happy,
the way I have carried us in my chest
all these restless nights
when distance feels like a wall
I cannot break.

You were asking me about things
you would never carry
into the waking world,
and I saw you unguarded,
a tenderness you keep hidden.

I answered yes to every one,
not because the answers
were always mine,
but because your joy felt holy,
and holiness is rare.

And in that dream
I begged time to loosen its grip.
I wanted morning to hesitate,
because I so rarely see that side of you,
and I knew the morning would close it away.

Perhaps that is why I return to the scene,
again and again,
because it shows me love,
and love has always been you.

Even now
when distance feels like a wall
and proximity is impossible
and silence thickens between us,
memory pulls me closer than distance allows,
closer than silence admits.

As beauty takes its meaning from you,
as the air remembers itself
only when you breathe it.

And what gives me life,
what keeps me here,
is not only the thought of your happiness,
but the hope that one day
I will again be allowed
to witness that secret part of you,
the tenderness that belongs to darkness
and somehow,
to me.

About the Poet
Emmanuel Igiegba Okodo resides in Lagos, Lagos State, Nigeria.
Read the poet's biography and Wax Poetry and Art publications
on Emmanuel Igiegba Okodo's Artist Page.

This poem is featured in Comet #8, published in the Wax Poetry and Art Library.

Keywords: love, distance, memory, relationships

Previously published in Nigeria Poetry Magazine:
A Fool of Warmth
by John N.D. Garang

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