Growing up is not what happens to your body,
It is what happens in your mind;
like baba Ajepe, you plant feet on the road of time
and gulp memories from the wineskin of years.
To grow up is to be fixed in your ways.
…. so grow but never kill the child that you are.
It is the conduit to your adulthood, the cocoon
you will return to. Stay flexible.
Babatunde Adeleke is a Nigerian poet and writer. He believes that words can be used to recreate our existence. His works have appeared in national dallies, Lion and Lilac, wildSound, Erogospel, punpoet, SpringNG and anthologies, including Today I Choose Joy, For Those Who Find Love and elsewhere.