This Long Night
Sad news keep me awake;
Counting stars through the ceiling,
Hiding from the sun under my blanket,
Racing about inside my tiny room,
With a mind so agitated and delirious.
With a heart quivering with fibrillations.
And lungs gasping for air under resting conditions.
Lying down on my old ragged mattress;
Pacing around and coiling in this furnace,
Of heat and warmth and sweat on a cold night!
Thirsting for a gallop of wine,when water is no more,
Yawning for yams,when potatoes have gone bad.
I think along an endless journey,
That I believe will never end in my time.
Reminding me of that appointment,
With a surgeon on my birthday Eve,
Leaves my peace in pieces.
It literally kills me alive,
Through the free long nights it gives me-
Like it did not see me yearn for more darkness,
To hide my face from the light of day-
When my name had been dragged to shame.
I'm moving along with the clock-
Impatiently waiting for granny's cock to crow,
When,at the arrival of dawn,
I will stand to face my fears-
Holding back my anxiety and worries.
Lest I dance to the tune of depression!
Or even cardiac arrest during the anaesthesia.
I will dress lightly and mask it up,
Beautify my face with borrowed smiles,
While I glow,thanks to petroleum jelly.
I will hold my bag and wave at my little boy,
Telling him I have gone to the salon-
And that I shall return to breastfeed him.
Into the hands of my maker I put tomorrow.
For I don't know what it has in store for me;
Fresh or stale peas,time will tell!
And my faith, I lift to the heavens,
Looking to them for rescue angels-
That will take me out of the bowels ,
That sit between life and death.
Ampurire Anitah.
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Ampurire Anitah
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