I Was Becoming a Bad Child

Cunning like foxes,greedy as hyenas,they looked at me; With widened eyes and wet lips,ready to grab me,like an angry lioness; And tear me like a beast and swallow me like the shark that swallowed Jonah. I had become a bad child; as bad as war, And they could no longer tolerate my naughtiness. They remained silent without saying anything like a word But beneath their silence piled a heap of anger and rage And they breathed with fury, wishing to only take hold of me, And teach me a lesson,that I would live to remember. My mother was against me,just like her dear husband They said I was an ungrateful daughter, Because I refused to eat from the same plate with him- The man they had prepared to marry me off because of his money. He was a Methuselah of the previous century; And he had been classmates with my father. My people wanted to sell me off,they were exchanging me; Their blood; for coins of shillings that last not longer than lust. They were determined to see me off like an unwanted visitor. But, I stood my ground like any other person who desires to live. I crossed lines to tell them they were doing wrong for the first time, And they said I was disappointing and selfish. They scolded me,yelling at me and calling me an evil child. They were living their life,I wanted to live mine, To be a better woman who could move many and change many. I wanted to go to school for I was just fifteen and had seen little of the world; If it was waters of the ocean,I had only tasted the surfaces; If it was heaven,I had just started to climb Jacob's ladder. I know not better than crying and licking my tears, And that is exactly what I did, weeping like death was here to take me. I called upon the ancestors of my clan to rescue me, I looked up to the skies,tracing to find my redeemer. I cried to my sister and brothers, I begged my people for help, And I was willing to involve the authorities, for my education was my life. The vows came with agony, the ring would come with suffering; And I was not ready for any of this, I would fight till the end; For this was my right as a modern girl child!