November 1996 Poem by Ofentse Mercy Hajane

As summer shed her spring skin.
And slowly slither into mid years.
I was but four when the wake of apricots and grapes seemed to flower the flowerless garden of my back yard.
My mother seemed quite,
Maybe musing at the marvel of addible nature.
Warm soft porridge decorated the top of the table as it has every morning.
A saucer of nicely packed cakes,
Kings the middle of the table,
Seemingly out of my reach.
Time stood for a while as I try the odds,
But the cakes where simply out of my reach.
So disappointed was my clock that it kept counting nulls.
After savouring a whole dish of soft porridge I geared up for play as every child does every morning.
A kiss on my forehead I knew meant that I can go be a child about myself.
When the sun had stabbed the middle of the sky,
And whispered of lunch,
It reminded me that I have to be home.
On my return from my adventurous journey of a child.
I was greeted by an old lady whose tales where just as that to my childish mind.
She told me that I need be worried not for my mother was at the market buying groceries.
Why would that worry the soft mind of a child?
The day wore on and her quest seemed not over yet.
Sat by the door,
Hoping that the horizon may give birth to a familiar human figure,
But night devoured any hope left.
The scenery in the house was familiar,
But not the same as everyday.
The smell of still hot dinner on the kitchens table sought a fight against a painful worry I had in my chest. Both trying to claim me as their own territory,
But worry was a fierce predator that limits itself not.
I tried to spoon in relieve.
But after a couple of stabs on its plate,
I could not swallow any of it anymore.
As night grows in, a drowsing sleep nested over me...
The old lady kindly escorted me to my bed.
She delicately opened the mouth of my bed,
and bedded its tongue over me.
Before my worry could snap the chains of its cell.
All was late.
A sleep always manages to cage even the most divine feelings of all...
So did the darkness weighed heavy on me.
November 1996, it morn twice.
A day break sounds of bird chirping outside,
A rattling sound of a wondrous mouse under restless leaves found my ears wide awake.
But my eyes betrayed them.
Like radar my ears searched the total plains of my house,
When suddenly and surprisingly the hit a target they have been yearning for.
It was soft, a whisper,
But audible enough that it alone out-stood the rest.
A familiar voice I sometimes imagined it to be sweeter than honey.
My nose started helping my ears in their search.
A familiar smell that always knows exactly how to sprinkle happiness over my heart.
As with force my eyes start heading toward the direction where
Both of my radar had a target on their reach.
As the morning light swam through my eyes,
A wide smile upon the goddess of gods,
My mother.
Tears flooded the base of my eyelids.
When I heard her calming voice saying;
"Shh! My dear son, the sun has risen more folds over twice to us.
It has bared to us an everlasting gift,
One a tear shed over it as if with happiness.
Do remember this forever,
And love it as your own.
For today our ancestors gave yet another,
One who would hunt the plains of life with you forever".
And lo I behold,
On November 1996,
Kicking up skies.
Fist clenched in hard,
Not ready to loose innocence,
Was my little brother.
He who today,
And like the only goddess prophesied,
we hunt the great plains of life together.


Ofentse Hajane