Lamentation of a Short Woman
I desire nothing more than a chance;
Under my silence lies a heap of words;
And my lips never hesitate to twitch at their scratch,
As the find their way out of my heart;
But then the inner little man holds them back
Because when I speak;
The pile of bitterness comes with floods of tears,
And the bunch of dark memories is let loose.
It is the pain,the betrayal,the embarrassment,
As well as stories of my suffering as a short lady;
Who is taken for a forteen year's old.
At the hair salons,I am not welcomed;
In bars and clubs, I'm chased away like wind chases chuff,
While in malls and shops and markets attendants pay loose attention to my orders,
Saying I'm too young to decide what I want to buy,
Or they laugh at me and make fun of me,
That rats do shopping in modern Uganda;
In the end, I am denied the service I am going to pay for.
If tears could wash all this torture out,
Crying would be my hobby, trying to rid myself of it all,
But it is certainly not.
I am lady of twenty three years,
Not the forteen year's old girl you all see on my outside.
It is my short stature that says otherwise and sells me out,
But I have ripe brains as well as the maturity a woman needs.
My cat face with fat cheeks and young nose-
Which hopes to grow centuries from today,
Makes me look like I was born only yesterday at midnight;
And gives anyone the courage to look down on me.
Like you, descendant of Adam and Eve,
I am a human with freshly flowing red blood in my veins.
I am a genuine citizen of Uganda,
Who pays taxes and preserves her nature and cultures.
Growing through all the ages behind me,
I have learnt to survive in truth and love,
And so,I help bring new lives to earth,in the labor suit.
While you ignore me in your salons and shops,
And while your husbands and sons,
Who do nothing but to sit on those boda bodas;
drinking waraji tease me at the knock of opportunity,
I remain sure that I am as useful as a cow;
Yes,like Ngabo,Bihogo,Kyozi!!
Copyright © Ampurire Anitah | Year Posted 2023
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