1.
And the young become old
the old become elders
and elders become spirits—
and spirits, what
can be said of them?
That those who have travelled
to a far country
the far country returns them
but only after they’re done
to journey, therefore, from that place on
to the great Pyramid of Saqqarah
riding the late express to Brooklyn
the philosopher, how he ends up where he began
and the poet—something he thought
might yet bring back that hour
of splendor in the grassy field
that neither Wordsworth nor Okigbo
saw the need to reveal
the secret of this mystery
the young, they will become old
and the old will become elders
and the elders, spirithood
awaits them, when
this is all done
2.
And that our God not fail us—
a prayer said
at morning light
but also at evening time;
a rose claims
a name for itself
the rose does not belong
to Umberto alone
we, who were not
invited to the feast, yet
we came to the table
anyway
Jerusalem was builded there.
Menkiti, Ifeanyi "When This Is Done" from Coming to America, 2022. Used by permission of Carol Menkiti, 2025.