Send My Love by Praise (Okunade) Ayowole

The radio is a Pandora’s box,

each headline a punch in my gut.

Are you legal now, my daughter?

Do the papers keep you safe,

or do they fold around you like thin armor

against a world that still asks for more?

Could you read with bullets slicing the air,

my son, while snow and smoke steal your classrooms,

and the nights grow colder than the news can tell?

And you, my little one,

my passport too light to reach you.

May this ink carry my kisses,

as I fumble at the screen,

longing to see your smile soon.

I send my love in waves and whispers,

letters folded with prayer,

voice trembling into calls that slice the oceans,

hoping each syllable finds you alive,

breathing, believing

that even when life conspires to separate us,

my heart is still your home.

I pray for skies that soften,

for rooms that echo with more than fear,

for the children I cannot hold tonight

to know my arms are always reaching,

and that love crosses the borders that would keep us apart.

Praise (Okunade) Ayowole is a Nigerian writer and poet whose work explores lived experiences, social realities, and imagination. She writes both fiction and nonfiction, with a growing interest in speculative and socially reflective narratives. Her work has appeared in literary platforms, and she continues to experiment with form and voice. Outside of writing, she works as a nurse and is an emerging public health professional.