Requiem For A Mother-In-Law Gone Too Soon – Part 9

To teach
a little child
to hate
in of itself
is an abominable
act, but
to teach
a little child
to hate
the grandmother
after whom
she was named
is a curse,
an inexcusable
curse
that is bound
to linger
in her mind,
torment
her soul
for the rest
of her life –
to teach
a little girl
to dislike
the grandmother
after whom
she was named;
now, that is
an eternal
curse
without
cure;
like witchcraft,
the recipient
of which
will be forever
doomed,
doomed to carry
this burden
of reckless
deviltry…
I did not like
what I saw
with my own
naked eyes,
I did not like
what I heard
with my wax-clean
ears;
a sight
that staggered
my mind
and soul,
that stunned
my imagination
which struggled
to grasp
the roots
of such heresy,
such sacrilege,
such death-wish
for the woman
who gave
your own father
the life-milk
of her now-wizened
breasts,
who gave your sire
that selfless love
she is now so
wickedly
denied
and bereft;
who gave him
health
and strength,
who gave him
his scythe-sharp
wit
only a tiny slice
of which
you carry
underneath
your chicken’s
skull…
little one,
I do not hold
any inglorious hint
of grudge
against you,
your rudeness,
it is not
your fault
at all,
the fault
squarely belongs
to the one
who carried you
to term
who once
called her a witch,
it is she
who must carry
this rancid burden
of the diseased mind
and blighted soul
in perpetuity…
innocence
tainted by greed
and corrupted by
selfishness
can be cured
in the nick
of time, with
sobriety and
maturity;
in due course,
the little one
will come
into her own,
in due course
the naked truth
shall come
to light,
of life
stillborn
with deceit
and hate
distilled
from spite…
the little child
will grow
to know
this life like
a picture-book
the layout
of whose pictures
is the fruit
of love
and the will
to please
and be blessed
by the happy
viewer
in kind –
the irony
of it all,
to put up
a house only
to be told
you do not belong
in it,
after all;
to put up
a house
only to be
told you belong
out there
in the freezing
cold;
the irony
of it all,
to be made
a total stranger
to your own
homestead,
a total stranger
to your own
home and
hearth…
11/22/18

Author: Kwame Okoampa-Ahoofe, Jr.

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