I Am With My Mother

I am with my mother Down the alley in the kitchen I am loosing her beads and hair She told me of the BIafran war How she escaped so many bullets Hid under cave for days. she ate only grasshoppers and rats While papa hunt bush rats for her as meat. She narrated how the Igbos were slaughtered and humiliated They were rendered helpless and hopeless in their quest for freedom. Papa's money was not return to him, His houses were occupied by another His children were dejected and refused To see the four walls of classroom. He worn torn clothes up and down While mother walked bare footed in the hopeless street Voiceless, hopeless and clueless They were in the shadow of themselves. You could touch their pains. No one could recognized those dimples on her face Her lips shone brightly but became dark when The bloody soldiers tortured its gut. Hair scattered in the dark tunnel of misery Her pretty face was ignored for many months Sh e was sexually abused like a child. She narrated gently, carefully of her torment. Now it was over between the two elephants So make your feelings known to me. I can not fear the unpredictable nor Would i cry for milk and food again Mothers love would guide and protect me Unlike the war time when she was helpless.