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| Omolola Ijeoma Ogunyemi |
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Chapter #: 2
Updated On: 14 September 2005 - Words Count: 289 - Number of Reads: 606 |
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Eyewitness
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It wasn't the lure of repealed taxes
that drew her to the movement
it was the sight of hundreds of women
wielding cooking implements
subversion of the domestic and familiar
into instruments of war,
it was the power she felt
coursing through her body
as she joined the marches, chanting
the look of respect in her husband's eyes
when she returned home each night.
Spurred on by the kicks from within her swollen belly
this humble trader, weaver of cloth
joined the assembly of women
surrounding the district officer's house
waiting for their demands to be met
Day after day, the African sun blazed hot
frying scalp exposed between cornrows
a little agony ignored for the cause
The day came when the man had had enough
the women intercepted on their way to his house
by a platoon of men who walked tall
just like the women's fathers
with skin that glowed
just like their brothers'
but empty eyes, devoid of allegiance
she had never moved so fast in her life
but could not outpace the source of the whine
gritted her teeth at the moment of the sting
but kept on running
and when the burning continued
she put her hand to her left shoulder
and laughed at the red, sticky liquid
She had never felt so free
But the baby wouldn't wait
She felt the hands supporting her
And then nothing at all
The sound of the angry wail
Drew another laugh from her
She uttered her first words to her daughter
"You were born to fight"
And on that morning in 1929
The women smiled the wide smiles
Of those who know
That they will win in the end |
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LITERARY 
