Seconds lingered into minutes
Minutes crawled into hours
Hours flowed into days
Days into months and months into years
For twenty years now
You have been lost in the labyrinth of civilization
The walls of the city has cocooned you
Blinded you from seeing the road that leads home
Was it the tyranny of the city holding you back
Keeping you away from the hearts dying to see you
Or was it you that has accepted the shadowy presence of her impossible promises
What happened to Amanda?
That made her forgets her root
Five years ago
The first and last time you came home
Ever since you were gone
It was the death of mama, you mother
That raised an echo across the hills
Bidding you to return to where you belong
Mama lived a miserable life
Mama died a sad death
Nothing is a greater doom
Than old age bereaved of company
Than grey head bereaved of kisses
Than exhausted womb garnished with hunger
Than a bleeding heart failing in neglect
But we heard that Amanda has grown big
Like that Makinda tree beside Odin river
A rumour I prayed remained a lie
For I wonder if you are ever capable of such wickedness
Having much to eat and more to spare
But leaving mama to beg till hunger closed her eyes in death
I'd love you never came
Since your presence removed all doubts
Changing the apparel of my love to hatred
And my blessings to curses
You came in a sleek black jeep
Radiating its elegance in the sun
Dazzling the gaze of unshaded eye
Scaring the children to make the bush their coverings
Leaving the saliva to freely drip from the jaw of the elders
A wonder not too many eyes had seen in this side of the universe
When I heard you were back
You've come to alas to bury your mother
Half a mile, I'd run from the farm
Jumping over fallen trees and huddles
Ignoring the cheerful greetings of passers by
Hoping to answer your last question
The question you asked many years ago
When you wanted to know if I loved you
This time I will tell you do
But as I paced into your fathers compound
A huge hand landed a cruel slap on my jaw
Causing the gum of my teeth to bleed
Two strong hands grabbed me
Throwing me out the same route I paced in
Your bodyguards are wild beasts
That cannot be tamed by the chains of culture
And as I staggered up from the dust
I caught a glimpse of you from the widow
Our face met quickly
But you parried your gaze beyond my head
I wonder where all our innocence had gone
A shock flowed through my veins
A quake rumbles through my blood
A hot wave smolders my head
For once I was a child again
Lost and lonely in the desert of life
© Olatuja Oloyede
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