ASIBI THE WORKING WITCH (NOT A DRAMA, NOT A POEM, JUST A HAPPENING)

“She was a witch from her childhood

While the girls played

She coveted the boys’ sticks

While girls cried for dolls

She wept for a machete and a catapult

While her fellow girls held their mothers’ skirts

She cut her father’s knickers to fit her

I tell you, she was a witch from her mother’s womb” Aduko says

 

Fire is hot

Ice is cold

Life is too short

For me to hold

I am a woman but I have the zeal

And I’m not backing out until life’s deal is sealed (Asibi sings whiles working)

 

“Ei! No wonder she is the richest farmer in the whole of Adukro

I bet she has charmed all of us and taken our glory

Now men are boys in her presence, begging this and begging that

Almost everyone in this village owes her

Asibi must be what you say she is;

A witch who does not even fear flying in broad daylight” Akuoko Laments

 

 “Then you people are very flexible

If it were my village she would have been caught

And sent straight to where she belongs

Look at her stupid husband

Caressing the tail of his lioness”

 

“Do not mind him

If it were you

What will you do?

We must think of a plan before we die of shame

Baba Alata must be brought here” Kromo cries

 

Fire is hot

Ice is cold

Life is too short

For me to hold

I am a woman but I have the zeal

And I’m not backing out until life’s deal is sealed (Asibi sings whiles working)

 

“She is truly a witch

One of a kind

Who takes the strength of all men

And uses it to her benefit

Until she is lynched, I ‘m sorry to say

All you men will never be free”

 

“But Baba, the police will arrest us

If we lynch her

No one sees her flying in the dark

But when we try ours, we will surely be in jail” Ohufo mews like a meek cat

 

“Look at the coward

Someone has given you a bed and you ask for a wife

If you are afraid, we will do it

We must be free of this snake

So we can also prosper” Aduko bemoans

 

“But do it with tact

You may land in trouble as Ohufo said

So do it with sense” Baba Alata says with his back turned as his ahenemma flaps one at a time

 

“It’s been three years since Asibi was burnt with her family

This village loses inhabitants every day

She brought men to work here

Now our men go in search of work

She brought food to the hungry mouth

Now mouths live on shrubs

She brought laughter to the sad faces

Now our faces show our sadness

None can be her, none will be her

Asibi was one

One in a million” Ohufo says

 

“Even I am appalled

Baba Alata must have led us astray

He told us to lynch her” Aduko says

 

“Do not blame him

You started it Aduko

You said she was a witch from her mother’s womb

You are the enemy we seek

Always sleeping and expecting food to fall from the gods

Lazy cocoon!” Kromo shouts

 

“And you agreed

Please leave me alone

I am not the only one at fault here

You all agreed, we all hatched the plan

Even you Ohufo knew but said nothing

So no one is free from her family’s extinction” Aduko says in exasperation

 

“You were foolish

We kill humans but we use their properties

You burnt humans and their properties

While you sit here and cry

Now we live

Like fowls

We pick what we see

And wander where our feet take us

“Asibi the witch, how I miss your songs” Kromo says

“Asibi the witch how I miss your food” Aduko says

“Asibi the witch, how I miss your money”  Kwaa Appiah says

“Asibi the witch, how I miss your human filled village” Kotoko says

All turn and say outloud:

“The damp finally spoke”

   Amoafowaa Sefa Cecilia © 2014.