Dear Mother

Dear Mother,
How time flies! How I missed you so terribly! I still can’t believe am surviving a whole year with you faraway. Can you imagine, a whole year without your sweet laughter and lovely scolding.
Anyway, how is life up there? I hope you are enjoying the company of those lovely angels. Oh, I really envy you! Chatting with those tender creatures would be quite an experience. were there so many fireworks during Christmas? What about Christmas Carol? Are you planning tosing Carols with the heavenly choir? And lest I forget, did you actually see God on his throne? How big is he? I told my classmates that God is black like me. Mother, is he?
Everyone misses you around here. Father especially. I see it in his eyes everyday. Not even stepmother could give him what you gave him. All she offers is nothing but stupid naggings and salty meals. Can you believe it? Father could not eat his meal last night? The eba was so soft and the soup salty.
I hate stepmother. I really really hate her, mother. She ruined my birthday yesterday and I will never forgive her. I think she is a witch. A very wicked ogbologbo aje at that. I saw her in my dream last night and she wanted to chew my head off.
In that dream, I was at the dinning table with her. She pushed a dish in front of me and when I opened it, it was full of worms and I pushed it away. She said I must eat it, I said I won’t and she became very angry. Smoke was coming out of a her nostril and ears. Then suddenly, her head changed to that of crocodile and I was so scared. I ran outside. She followed me. I screamed for help but no one was around. I was about running out of the compound when she caught up with me. She opened the crocodile teeth, about to chew my head off when I woke up on my bed.
I told kemi about the dream. She said most witches sleep with their legs up and against the wall when they are going for meetings. Maybe one of these days, I will go to her room and hide under her bed. When am certain her legs are up and against the wall, I will come out and scream for people to see. Mother, do you think that is a good idea?
Oh I have to go now! Stepmother. She is screaming my name like a mad woman. I think she is heading towards my room. But mother, will you ever reply my letters? Greetings to the angels.
Yours daughter,
Oyin

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.

I Died

I was dying and the earth knew it.
On that soft hospital bed, I battled to hold on to what was mine. I held on to life the way a one year old kid would hold on to her daddy’s hand ,the way a thirsty plain would hold on to a tiny drop of rain.
With mammoth pain, I wondered why everything was coming to an end so early. At eighteen, I was just starting life, just staring to experience the sweetness of true love. Five days earlier, Teniola had confessed how much he loved me. He wanted me to give my heart to him. He had no idea, but I wanted to tell him right there how much I loved him. But then, I didn’t. I promised him a reply four days after and that was today.
He was at the hospital today and brought colorful roses with him .I could not even open my mouth .I was too much in pain to tell him I truly loved him. Tears streamed like rain.
I was dying, dying of Sickle cell anemia. The unseen enemy was passed to me by parents and it was bent on stealing my breath away.
It was a dark fate and I was still musing on it when I noticed her. She was standing by my bedside, a total stranger. Her look was somewhat tender.
'who are you?' I asked, my voice tiny and weak.
'An angel!; Her soft voice was serene. It brought back memories of dazzling waterfalls.
‘What are you doing here?’
‘To take you somewhere.'
The message sank immediately.
‘Angel of Death.’
‘Yes and I have come to take your pain away.’
‘That is not true .You came to give me pain, to steal my breath. Oh, I hate you. I hate God!’
‘No, you don’t’
Yes I do. He gave me Sickle Cell Anemia. He gave it to those innocent kids all over the world’.
‘But he didn’t .Choice certainly did!
‘And now he sent you to fill my world with grief. It is not fair. ' Tears flowed again.
The angel moved closer and touched my brow. I looked into her eyes and was shocked. I saw tears glistened on her face. I asked why she was crying.
‘You are young and in love and here I am, ushering you away from what you hold so dear . It hurts.’
‘It does?’
‘Yes. But it is a job that must be done .You should let go of this pain.’
Truly, the pain was lofty. It was eating me alive.
I finally let go. ‘Up there, can I still love?’
‘Yes, you can.’
That made it all easy, I shut my eyes and floated into space with her. I felt the sweetness of the grizzled cloud on my lips.
At last, no more pain.
At last, no more Sickle Cell Anemia.
I Died.

Lullaby

Lissome lilly dancing by the stream
tell me , have you seen my dream?

Curious canoe crooning on salty brine
do you see her shine?

Gentle goddess floating in the sky
tell me, can my dream reaches strong and high?

Precious Petal

Drops of
Rain
On patched terrains

Sweet solo
Drizzling
With ample alto

Fresh breath
Of waking flowers
On the cheeks
Of shy roses

Chilled dew
Kissing
The lips of grassy green

This
Is you
My precious petal.

Tender Night

Tender night tender night
Fills me with blues
Tender night tender night
Thrills me with blooms.

Tender night tender night
Tell me a tale
Tender night tender night
Will I love again?