The Pains of Motherlessness
(a poem by Aare Tunde Dawood-Akerele)
Sympathizing with every motherless child.
The Pain of Motherlessness
Is far beyond measure
Especially for a green mind.
Begins from the shock of announcement
To illusion of preparing the corpse
To agony of witnessing the interment
Since Mama has gone
Though no more weeping
But mourning ceases not
O maa see o!
Since Mama has gone
I've been searching for substitute
But what an exercise in futility!
What a mirage!
The vacuum is beyond description
There's limit to what wife can endure
There's limit to what husband can tolerate
Theres limit to what baba can do
Only abiyamo tooto can play all the role.
O maa see o!
Since abiyamo has gone
Who has the gut to confront my foes?
No one dreams of me again
And begins to take steps at dawn
The pains of motherlessness
Is far beyond description
It's agonising, it's horrifying.
Since Mama has gone.
No one asked me for bread again
No one sent me wraps of locust beans
No free laps for my kids to play on
Children are crying but
No lullabies, no allegories
No warm hands to cuddle my head
No singing of lineage panegyrics
The pain is much.
All the graveyard promises
Are nothing but hollow rituals
The lacuna is unfillable
There's only one abiyamo
Searching for any other one
Would be amounted a generational mirage.
The pain seems unending.
It's beyond description.
To every motherless child
A dead mother is like a stolen rapper
Exposed to harmattan of life,
Unblocked from mosquitoes of life
No more cover, no more pillows
No more care but just little affection
The pains are enormous.
Imagine a visit to the village
Water offered by others
Not as the one from her pot.
Her room is now vacant
Who will say good bye with prayers?
Who will drop tears at parting?
The pain is beyond measure.
Not at home, leaving for a while
No one to claim my right for me
In her absence at the family meeting
Portions of shares reduced to meagre
Property unevenly distributed
Blames were wrongly apportioned.
The pain is much.
Here comes a warning
Oh! A motherless child
Never dares having back wound
Because it may not heal.
Exercise cautions always, be prayerful
As no one to tell the hard truth again
No one to condemn the misdeeds
No one to appreciate the good
No one to tell fore warning
Please, se jeje o!
A caring mother
A Shepherd to her child
A good mother
A stern cover to her breed
A lovely mother
A strong defence minister
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