Page 12 - Poesiens Dronninger

In my family they used to call me
The smiling machine
And indeed I was
My parents called me ‘mwalimu’
Which means ‘teacher’
They gave me a present of an
encyclopedia which was long,
branded with different colours
Oh! how I remember
It was a gift to give me motivation
to achieve my goals, ambitions and visions.
How they loved me so; amongst
the seven children.

Pregnant I got and every support
Vivian Nyaboke I got from them stopped
MY RO YAL CHILD Going back to school for my college studies
became a nightmare.
All the dreams
All the beautiful ambitions
All the visions became like a
passing smoke across the skies
I couldn’t reach nor touch.
My family’s trust
just got lost.

I gave birth
And became invisible
My baby and I were no longer
Considered persons in the house
I soaked wet in my own tears
Not any other tears but tears
of bitterness.
I can just call it ‘the sweet bitter tears’.
Everyday and night in the place
I called home, had now turned
like a morgue. A morgue because
of the coldness of every soul in
that home.
Their hearts were no longer warm but
had turned totally cold.

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