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This poem was inspired by the International Day of the Girl Child which was on 11th October. (As usual, I’m late 🙂 It is based on the Haiku Heights Weekly prompt Shroud

Shroud of Nakedness

Cloth me
In a shroud
Of nakedness
Where my poverty
Will be glaring
 
Offer my body
As a fitting dish
To be savoured
By the gods
Brutish beasts
Who make
The rules
Fetters of tradition
 
For in tradition
I was conceived
Born under
An omen
A prophesy
Of ignorance
That allowed culture
To dictate
My marital vows
 
Instead of
My dream boy
Lean and hard
I pledge
My virginity
To he
Who ransomed
The cocoa farm.
 
I am bound
By chains
Hunger
My best friend
My appetite raw
And dead
For the plunder
Of my body
White calico linen
Turning crimson
With the blood
And tears
Of my girlhood
 
They say
I will soon give him
Children
Then my sorrows
Will be over
For their cries and laughter
Will bring much-needed
Joy to my heart.
 
But my god must be asleep
 
For I waste away
As my soul dies
And with it
My fertility
 
The plunders become
Frenzied attacks
Rape he calls
His rights
In a raving effort
To make me
Make him
A rich man.
 
A man’s wealth is his children
 
Alas
Does he not know
That I am his child also
How can a child
Become the mother
Of the child?
 
With a child’s longing
I yearn to be free
To be a child.
 
 
Copyright © Celestine Nudanu 
(15/10/12)
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I appreciate your patience with me as I catch up on your blogs. Thanks a million! Shalom 🙂