War Without War Weaponry for Mrs. Cecilia Ekwubisionu Malukwuo Egbuonu ebube Agbala - Ugo Gbuzuo Ochakee - Ochie Dike Nnem Na Nnam Poem by Tony Cemaluk

She fought a war without war weaponry,
No gun, no sword, no army at her gate.

Planting season,1974.
Husband fell at thirty-nine.
She stood at thirty-seven,
With seven mouths and a one-room store -
And a fate.

Relatives came,
Cried,
Ate,
Left.

The compound waited to scatter.
The world waited to shame her.

She did not plant yam that year.
She planted her children.

This was war without war weaponry,
Her spear was patience, not iron.
Her shield was dignity, not wood,
She fought whispers with structure,
Insults with silence,
Hunger with labour.

Other widows begged,
Cecilia laboured.

Cartons on head to the garage,
Needle in hand at midnight,
Mending torn wrappers,
Counting stocks by lantern,
Whispering her war oath into the dark:
'My children will not scatter.
They will gather.'

She told her son,
'School is your father now.
When your father died,
I became your father too.'

War without war weaponry,
Tinker Therapy - Gbaa Gbaa!
Like old Mr Hilary beating the bent pan to shape,
Her cane was not to break,
But to restore.

She preserved a compound
More than a man could.
Nwanyi ka nwoke!
Ebube Agbala!
Ugo gbuzuo Ochakee!
Oche Dike Nhem na Nhem!

No bullet was fired,
Yet a battle was won.
No army marched,
Yet a kingdom was kept.

The bucket still holds water.

89 years.
Fulfilled.
Victorious.
Unbroken.

War without war weaponry -
And she won.