Elegy Of The African Mother. Poem by Adebowale Kolawole

Shall today stand witness?
— To the plight of a weak heart?
Should the Sun stand not guilty?
— I'm the harp of a happy loner—
In the ears of the villager's lantern
— I'm the voice from the churchyard
Infiltrating the midnight curtains
—I'm the silent tears of a deserted heart
That refuses to be consoled,
from the grief at whole.


I'm a widow, of sweet forlorn flow
My pains, like flames pierce my peace
My name, letterhead in Ichabodian honour
My anguish, like the eyes of a crimson
I'm like a deserted oasis in the face of yesterday
I'm like a fading cloud in the face of my unborn children
Wither when the rain should come? I'm a fake lightning in the thunderstorm.

For you have left my morn foggy and my Reality not Unbroken. Alani—
In shattered and scattered on the jungle highway.
You've turn my love into a boundless river and my necklace of laughter unhung
Into my eyes you've blown the shaft of melancholy, and the beauty of tomorrowunseen.

Alani,
Amidst the chatter of uncultured apes you have left me
the oath of our heart you've loathe —
under jackboots my bones and spirit crunch—
forced into the ugly voices of the children of bigger pants
Now, I'm a widow of yesteryear's Realities—
flushed down into the Broken tomorrow.

Sleep, Alani
May the sleepless waters that burn my cheek —
Spell out a spell of malignant nemesis—
on the face of your vultures
that my bones may later sing
to the tune of the six feet.
Sleep well, my love, sleep well—
ergo, our Realities shall be mended
and our tears shall be wiped on the other side
when fishermen shall bid to the bird of island
and the laughter our old friends would linger at night.
there shall still remain, the remains of the yesteryears
when the last cemetery gateman shall fastened the big gates
there shall still linger the hallelujah of our forgotten days —
and the songs of hope on the lips of ourchildren
When at last our tax is taxed in little token
there shall still linger the memories of those Realities Unbroken.