SHE WASN”T WOMAN – SHE IS A MAN

Sometimes, I want to be hugged when am being silly and sad,

At times, I need to be flogged especially when I miss my dad,

The thickness of his laughter and the shrillness of his eyes

The excess love for his daughter, the experiments with creams of ice

The shadowy protection of his height and the nastiness of cheating lies

The frequency of their fight till mum of the house took flight

The soul of matrimony pictures now dead

And the love story leaves me confounded

The first night without her was horror filled

With replays of mom’s face, tear filled

And the new glasses she now did wear

For the sunlight she could no longer bear

No advocate to plead her case

For her parents lives within heaven’s gate

No flower in the center vase

For our home was long gone with fate

In pains, we saw her a year later

Sunken and emaciated

And the hatred for injustice grew greater

Drunk in helplessness, am a kid decapitated

And the welfare officer in sympathy cried

A holiday for a month – on his blood, he made it through

Hours beside her was heaven

But terror came at night in dreams

A replay of events before

Of the pictures of love on the floor shattered

And the blood stream that eased from her nose

The red stained eyes that needed glasses

The swollen lips in need of a warm massage

The boxing ring that was my home

And the victim who always is her

A recap played that night as I slept

Of the congregations of in-laws that threw her out

In native curses, beatings and shout

I knew not when in my dreams I wept

But I awoke and our tears together calmed my fears

She wasn’t a woman

She was a man

On the road to work by six

I finally ended class six

Days of hunger came

But her loving smile made them lame

On and off, was her struggle

She came out victorious out of the rubble

No male to pour her heart to

No arms to put her cold away

She became her own husband too

And feeling of wants she still keeps away

The Eve with no Adam she was

And on and on goes the buzz

She wasn’t a woman

She was a man

I tell of a princess that was lost

In all consuming eternal bond

With that man who sired me

In a contract of marriage bliss

I tell of the intelligence that was shown

When no other man was known

And the vision of that knowledge

That made us who we would become.

She wasn’t a woman

She was a man

Father at day; mother at noon

And the both at night

She stands tall where no man can

Her voice thundering high in achievements

The resilience so daunting

The menace of her will power

The ferociousness of her love

And that flowing river of forgiveness

She wasn’t a woman

She was a man

And now that he come begging

Still in sympathy, her open arms wait

Opening up that reserved loving

Is she actually sane?

To the woman who forsook all

To the woman who in my heart forever stands tall

To the epitome of godliness

Integrity and comeliness

To the woman who forever is a Mother

My mother

SHE WASN’T A WOMAN

SHE IS A MAN