I slopped down to the village catch.
A daily routine; a mamba for lunch.
I swear, it had to be a visitor coming,
A bee had nagged me since morning.
My dry throat drove me to the well
A choice I relish to loath to recall
The sun was not that madly high.
I espied you Auma, I eased a sigh;
Say, two yards away behind a thicket
I mused to sit, I worship your beauty
See, a soiled pot resting on your head,
You, wasting your tiny waist swayed.
I saw myself, I saw you, us two
Listening to me bill and you coo.
Auma, my soft leather, my bread and butter.
Auma, my may weather, my fire and water.
But see, I was still short of only two bulls
So to beat the dowry that your father wills
At village beer parties, at wrestling matches.
I wished to risk and whisk your pot down
So my intent in your two pearls be known.
I would if I could rip my heart
Open for your eyes to dissect,
Then, you’d cure this inner ache
In this love labyrinth you partake
Auma, my shield and spear,
My milk tea spoon and sugar
If you’d take me in my dear,
I’d bathe in your fragrance,
And bask in your intimacy.
Wait, wait. The gods love to hate!
Those without teeth oft get meat.
What? I could not believe my sight!
Day shames seems of the night;
Out of a shrub dashed an image
Twice my size, thrice my league
A frame my eyes seized up
An answer that woke me up
It was my father, with a leap
Like a thief on seeing a cop.
Panting , chest up, spear up;
Before you, planted it erect
And akimbo, stood a giant.
In front of you, my only stock,
That shock so loudly spoke.
Down went the pot to smithers,
A knife slit my heart into pieces.
I’d have clobbered a man to paste!
But he? He, my father, your date?
Awkwardly, he smiled,
And offered you his hand,
Hesitantly you took it.
I lost to forces I fought.
I hated you and I still do,
Myself, him and still too.
You carried his spear, chose a life,
A consent to become his fifth wife.
I left home for the city. Yes, Auma.
The thorns of watching my Auma
Playing a mother to me. No, Auma.
That’s why I’ll never see you again.
I give in pain and love in a bargain;
The city made me mean monster,
I daily die longer and live shorter.
But why Auma?
Try my humour.
Why won’t I ever know?
I’ll wonder evermore
Why be the fifth wife?
Yet you, you, on my life
Could be my only wife?
©Abi Maria Amaru
©abimaria
A