Family Matters
Man: woman do not with me begin this morning,
Don’t want to go through the day with mourning.
Look I’ve got enough woes on my desk and shoulder
So I don’t need words that sting like adder.
Your mates, they greet the day with a kiss
But you rise laden with a fang and a hiss,
Seeking to pierce an ache bloated mind.
Don’t worry that thing you seek you’ll surely find.
Woman: Look I haven’t even bitten and you cry foul
My tongue hasn’t begun lashing yet you howl.
Wait till I recount all that my heart’s been nursing
It will leave not just your head spinning
You spirit, soul and body will be left jerking.
You stand here and speak of what my mates wake to do,
I will tell you what real mates do.
Other men I know provide everything a home needs to grow.
Man: But I give to you all the basic of human want
A roof over swollen head; clothing on you proud shoulder and I feed your stupid fancy
What more is it you desire?
Woman: Have you finished recounting what to you are the basics
See where your lowly mind sits,
Well, as I said other men I know are always there
Available not just with swollen bank accounts
They lend a hand with tending the home,
They share in the responsibility of raising the lil ones,
Changing diapers and filling bottles if need be
Man: Are you not asking for too much
How can I stoop so low to such?
Am I to be your maid as well?
Surely you have indeed gone bananas.
Woman: There you go again jumping the guns
Am not finished I have more to tell
I surely have more than bananas to sell.
Man: well I’m in no need of your rotten wares
I don’t need to remind you I’m the man of the house
I am the boss and here my rules rule.
Woman: Heeeeyyyy, enough you egotistic chauvinist,
get off your high horse and over yourself immediately ,
We are bored and tired of it already.
Mr. high and mighty man of the house
Shall I bow and have you tread on my back
Man: Stop the sarcasm you unruly daughter of eve!
Woman: you seem confuse as to what you really want
I laud your majesty and you frown
And bark when I revile your manly clown.
Man: Be quiet, be quiet I warn
Don’t want to be held for causing harm
Yet you push; you push this hand
That likely on your face may land
Woman: no, I shall speak; we’ve been to Beijing and back
Man : then I’ll tie those cords back with a slap!
Child: I am right here you know,
Waiting for you to end your row.
For while you slap faces and break heads
My own heart and spirit suffers worse fate.
This thing you do I truly hate.
I know strife is rife with the human race
But please take your fights away from my face.
Keep it behind closed doors I say,
Harassing me with it hardly pay.
Do you know just how much I bleed?
Watching cut each other with words like blade.
How daily I suffer in silence
Seeing your bickering mars my innocence.
To me you do this great injustice
Which I rarely think I deserve.
Mum, dad I love you both dearly
And if you love me, please keep it behind closed doors.
And don’t take from me the happiness of childhood.
Copyright © Oluchy Onyema | Year Posted 2015
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