Titilope Sonuga - Lessons in Summer Lyrics

It is the summer of my new body
I am kissing a boy
Whose hands make my blood bloom
Beneath the skin
He is gentle
So I am not afraid
When he plucks me up
Like ripe and ready fruit

It is the season of discovery
And we have spent many days like this
Lying in the field of our wanting
Mapping the landscape of skin with open palms
Some borders we promise not to cross

In class
My physics professor speaks
Past my empty seat.
She is teaching a lesson about gravity
That I already know from falling
Into the well of this boy's eyes
I should be there learning about force
The power of inertia
I should be listening to the tricky
Dynamics of two bodies when one is
Bigger and faster and stronger

Instead I am with the boy I love
Instead I am pressing both hands
Against the wall of his chest
I'm pleading quietly with my eyes
I forget to say no with my mouth
I'm busy trying to squeeze
The useless gates of my legs closed

Defiant tears roll down the cliff
Of my face, the little girl inside me
Falls to her death
He is giggling in my ear
Like he already knows the punch line
To a joke I will never tell

Years later,
Bent over the tub washing my hair
My fingernails scrape my scalp
And drag the memory out of my head
The dam breaches and pain pushes
Forward through the scar
Water everywhere till I am drenched in it
On the bathroom floor
Hair clumped and mad

And then I speak his name to my sister
Her voice lowers to a growl
I speak his name to my sister
Across the globe he begins to tremble
I speak his name to my sister
She lays a hand on my heart
I speak his name to my sister
And the wound breathes shut