Joseph Matose Poet Ode

Nehanda: the Prophetess

Nehanda: The War Prophetess


Nehanda bore the groin
That animated or begot me
With a hardly wrapped loin
Peeping Toms tried to see;
Hanging by the cruel rope
She spun a ghastly surprise;
As she gave up the spirit:
“One Day My Bones Will Rise
Angry, from this grimy grit!”

           ***          
	
Nehanda met her death
By Hypocrisy’s grisly hand
Her grave bore no wreath 
Bones scattered in the Land!
I celebrate this prophecy
Each Independence Day
That begot sweet Democracy
From Throes of Yesterday.

I stir in my mother’s Bones
And lisp tongues of brevity 
I hearken as she intones
With cries of typical clarity
For, this inviolable groin
Is not a soft underbelly	
Wan Cloth wrapping loin
Is never soft as your jelly!

          ***

Pendant on Death’s Tree
Killer’s heart filled with sate 
She beamed face to see
Ugly grimace full of Hate 
Deeply yearning for her child
Thus she cried aloud her last
That sent men into the wild
To correct this Ugly past!

          ***

Nehanda my sweet Mum
I love you with my heart
I yearn sulking with a thumb
Now cankered with a wart
I yearn fawning on that bosom
Whose nurture had reason
To coax shrubs to blossom
In undue summer season!

          ***

This is my charming mother
Someone labelled a bother
With reasons quite sallow
Minds shut and so narrow
With Hate quite skin deep 
Fated like an obliging sheep!

JM

22nd Oct’ 2013

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Shadow Hamilton October 22, 2013 at 6:17 AM very deep and a tribute to Nehanda written with sensitivity Joseph a great pen Joseph Matose October 22, 2013 at 9:12 AM Hie, Shadow. Thanks for dropping by. Nehanda was a war prophetess whose spirit led the war of Liberation. She was hanged by Colonialists and upon dying she said "my bones will rise!" This is A tribute to the mental strength of women in the face of adversity. Friend, JM