I do not know
Who carved the show
I do not know
Who gave that blow
That a girl was an animal
Not a tigress nor a lioness
Not an elephant nor an eagle
Not a dove nor of love
But a sheep which needed its herdsman
Or a hen needed to hatch or be gifted on occasion
How did I fall like a load on my mother’s head?
II
Trained to fit into a shadow
Trained to voicelessly like a donkey follow
Trained to worship the shallow
Becoming a chameleon to complement my sire
Was the scary blessing which cuffed my passions
As long as it had a tail
It definitely covered its fail
Oh unfortunate me on that hurdled sail!
III
Fitting not into any shadow
I became the blow which non wanted to show
A blow which no ego wanted to note
A blow which all tails needed to kowtow
Defiance transformed me into a witch
A witch whose magic laid in her brighter head
A witch whose sword harmed chasing egos
A witch who only tails saw in their dark selves
And so the hunting started
IV
A girl acting like a boy
A girl looking like a boy
An abomination in this nation
Oh how mama prayed for hands of God’s help
Oh how she forced my knees to taste the grounds of my “gods”
Oh how my peers in shadows laughed at my convention of submission
A sheep turned goat
Being forced to turn sheep
Agya mmaa abrɛ!
V
All the drama acted like a hammer
Hitting my pate as I acted the nail
Until flashes of the pain of history flashed
Through the blood of my pride
How my mothers grandmother’s great grandmothers stayed like mute clay
Carved to suit
Made to swallow all the hurt their makers cooked
And I tore out
Out of the clothes of suppression
VI
Eyeballs popped and sunk
Mouths trapped many flies
Noses opened their doors to dust
As the fear flew from me to them
I was the freed
One society warned against
One cursed to never succeed
Never knowing other shells were being broken
To let many shadows taste the light
The light of their fate caged in this sphere
VII
You ask me how it feels to be here?
I feel like a tied kite freed by a godly fairy
I feel like a bɔɔla bird turned into a reasonable eagle
I feel like the weaver of life
One with powers I wish not to brag
A capable partner to my once upon a time herdsman
I feel many things in one
Most importantly
I feel FREEEEEEE!
Caring not about the debris that trails
Amoafowaa Sefa Cecilia (c) August 11, 2017
