Monday, November 17, 2008

Abiku, The Spirit Child


The first time I came to this world, I was cruel and merciless.
My first parents celebrated my birth, throwing all night party where people wined and dined. I was their first child, so they wanted to make my arrival a very special one. What they did not realize was that I was not happy arriving at their doorstep. I was an Abiku and I loved being one.
I was patient enough to witness my first birthday celebration. But the morning after the cake was cut, I decided to die, throwing the family in the deepest of all grief. While they mourned the child that never loved them, I was with my fellow playmates and we were happily ridding on the wavelet of the rainbow. Oh what a delight! Nothing in the wretched earth could be compared to the pleasure that flowed in the Abiku kingdom.
In the morning, we would float playfully in the liquid wing of dazzling dawn and suck the brimming breasts of sunshine. At night, under the bright canopies of the virgin moon, we would gather and make sweet love through times and seasons. Our king usually makes love to all the female Abikus. He knew how to pleasure us with his virility that spurts with ceaseless rhythm. Even the moon envied what we shared.
Of all the Abiku that kept going and coming, I was the most impatient. I was born more than fifty times to different parents of varied nationalities. My incessant journeys between this world and the spirit world were smooth until my fiftieth birth.
The woman who gave birth to me had waited for ten years. A year before my arrival, her husband’s parents had insisted that their son marry another wife because of her infertility. Her husband was almost yielding when I came to her. You can imagine her joy; I was indeed her dream come true. Unknown to her, I had just six months to stay.
On the day I was to depart, I was sick and nothing medically could be done to save me. Perplexed, my mother knelt beside the bed and cried.
‘Oh my child, don’t leave me. I am your mother and I love you. For ten years, I have waited for you to come to me. Please don’t break my heart. I promise to be a good mother to you.’ Her tears flowed like a river and love flowed from my heart. I decided to stay.
This decision enraged the Abiku kingdom and they tried all they could to make me change my mind. My playmates on many occasions had appeared to me telling how much I had missed. When I was not listening to their appeal, they turned violent. If they do not attempt to steal my breath while I slept, they would try to drown me. I had no idea how but my mother sensed I was fighting with something and she fought with me. After some time, the threat stopped from the spirit world and I ceased to be an Abiku.
My mother was happy that I stayed. I was glad too.

24 comments:

Unknown said...

really nice
poetic and the lines flow into one another
if you wanna feature me
you have to specify which you want
and i will check it
if i can give the permission

I am glad you love my blog. this is my pain that i keep hidden

Anonymous said...

I really enjoyed the mythological aspect to this story. Very nicely written.

tommeh said...

This is really interesting.

Reminds me of the poem "Abiku" by JOhn Pepper Clark-Bekederemo. To see the poem, plz copy and paste the link to web address bar

http://www.facebook.com/topic.php?uid=19743533817&topic=5583

~Sirius~ said...

Did you say you are pretending to be a writer? you might want to take that back.
Really nice post, your stories always have a way of holding my attention until the very end.
Really enjoyed this one.

bumight said...

wow! this was interesting...

Anonymous said...

awwwww

Rosa said...

Very insightful!

Is this based on legend, or did you come up with it on your own?

LovePaprika said...

omg u r so talented! thanks for swinging by!!! that was a lovelyyyyyyy story !!!! :)

Buttercup said...

Hey! Thanx for stoppin by n for the suggestion! I'll be back to read ur posts! Pwomise!

Anonymous said...

WOW! Really nice story. I loved it, I like it a lot. And you are a fabolous writer. Do keep it up!

Writefreak said...

Were you really one? lol

Nicely written..

Abujamaiden said...

Thanks for coming by my blog. I love this Abiku post!

Buttercup said...

Wow..u really r talented! Im happy the Abiku ceased to be one.. :)

KAM BABY said...

Pretending to be a writer
? *Shucks*

U are unbelievably talented....+ i love ur blog, and i'm definately coming back.

keep it up!

Anonymous said...

nice...deep...my mouth was open most of it...

SOLOMONSYDELLE said...

how can a writer pretend to be a writer?

Anyway, I liked this story.

Off to look for more in your archives

paisley said...

you are an amazing story teller.. thank you so much for leaving me a comment so i might find you here...

Geebee said...

Wonderful piece Deola. I'm speechless. This post reminds me of a million things. I like your creativity. But really, do the abiku still exist? Just wondering.

Toluwa said...

wow...very nice indeed.

Thnx for stopping by my blog...

Afrobabe said...

Wow...we need to get u published girl...

atunnise said...

Wow,this is interesting.
I enjoyed this piece and I have a feeling I'm going to enjoy more....going back now to read the rest of the posts.

Cheers babe.

PS: Thanks for your comment on my blog.

Unknown said...

nice poem

Unknown said...

i love this poem...

التميز المثالي للخدمات المنزلية said...


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