The Fern Poem by Jacob Kobina Ayiah Mensah

I heard you coming in from behind the door
without your feet rustling in the dry leaves.
I heard you this time trying to close the main gate
without creaking it against the wooden post
when you were still singing, 'I have got so much in this world

so live forever
and I will be there to complete your life.'
I heard you coming to the bedroom without crackling in the fire
when I was still at the high seas in the book I was reading,
I met you this time face to face,

we stood for hours with a glass of orange juice,
fizzing inside me,
before I offered you a place to sit down.
But having nothing to say,
because you could not reach your words,

I added, 'Where is the drug addict? '
'He is behind the wall, ' you said.
I jumped from the bed and embraced you,
'Oh you are still in your night dress, ' I heard you,
when your hands were moving in the sea waves of my buttocks

'Do not cry we are in our bedroom, ' I said
and embraced you
and kissed you
more to fill the gaps we had created.
Will this wall fall on us again?

I do not want to think again
because I will be there to complete your life
when I pull you from the crotch of your mind.
So hold me! Hold me from my large breasts and follow me in the deep seas I am
leaving you now though it is very cold when I step on the floor of droplets,

I am feeling warmth.
Swim following the leafy fronds ahead of us
and keep your breath for another day
I am your fern
when I keep on playing with your bristly hair.