Grand Mother Poem by Godfrey Machuka

Several years ago
Ere the invasion of white on her head
Some thousands of days ago
When her breasts were still turgid
And not these withered tired bags of flesh…
In fact miles of the past ago
Before her form yielded to be bent and crumpled
Wrinkled and furrowed and creased by wear…
She was a sparkling meteorite.

Then into her swam a foreign germ
Innocuously finding an abode in her warmth;
Gradually turning itself into a little tadpole
That inflated her tummy day by day
Developing, growing, budding
Evolving into a humanling
Resulting to me!

And these shaky tender hands
In their initial might
Handled,
Cuddled
The delicate mass of me
Through cries and smiles
Past whys and byes
Never flinching to define my person

Yeah, the tired pair of limbs you see
This very spent lean crowd of meat
Measured the earth for me
For now after them I have taken
Crisscrossing life’s pitfalls with gusto
Ignoring with contempt the contemptible
Upholding will zeal the commendable
Muscles straining
Jaws stiffening
Hope ever glowing at the horizon
The virtues she taught at my cradle!

In retrospect
Back into the days of her innocence
To her a duty was given
And past the ages,
Over life’s pages
I am overwhelmed to pay her homage
And with brazen pride I declare
O what to me a grand mother!