So We Sat And Waited Poem by Stella Sisanda Qishi

We sat on hard, naked, long plank chairs
Choked by anaesthetics and painkillers
Waiting with bated breaths
To cry tears of joy and ululate
Calling her the greatest things we’ve come to know
We waited…
The sun turned askew above the mountains
Our ears crowded by the awful silence
Eventually Sisters came out without smiles on their faces
Overwhelmed by curiosity we stopped them
Before they could pass us by
‘Doctor Bezuidenhoud will inform you’, they said
And dragged their feet and disappeared in the hallway
Doctor Bezuidenhoud followed
His eyes locked firmly on the ground
Afraid to meet ours
Ours confronting his despair
He told us things our ears refused to believe
Our little Cinderella was stillborn