YOU LAUGHING CHILD

I see your smiles
Like bright suns sitting happily in dark clouds
So I pause to look

II
I see your laughter
Like a happy go lucky heart
…dancing amidst mourning
So I sit to stare

III
In this slums where many a beauties
…lie dead under the underarms of poverty
What will be the price of your laughter
…talk less your smiles?
In this dark pit
Where dirt owns clear skin
…scars own pure emotions
…survival overtakes consciences
…as the strongest imprison the weak in the prison of fears through justifiable survival
Of what good will your brightness be?

IV
I wish you had adult eyes to read your mother
Her countenance spells doom
Her energy speaks fear
Her demeanor capitalize hunger
And her body language boldly tells tales
…of wanting your suckle to end
So she can push you into the dark winds of fending for yourself

V
She will kill her care
…to be able to live through your torture
She will blind her eyes to you
…to be able to see not your hurts
She will act deaf
…so she will hear not your screams
I hope you won’t be quick to hate
…dear child
A helpless mother’s coping mechanism
…include clothes of shamelessness
…headgear of wickedness
…shoes of “I-don’t-carism”
…and spectacles of “I-see-not”
The only thing which knows her heart
Will be her pillow and or hand supporting her sleep
For those feel her tears and shame
And know her sleeplessness

VI
Take it from one who knows
Demons await to widen the gap
…between your dreams and you
Systems are also waiting to stain your good name and poison further your difficulties
…thanks to your appearance and roots
This smile I see will fade
…overtaken by frown wrinkles
And your laughter will turn painful
…the kind which wakes sadness to unseat hope
It will take an extra grace
…an indefatigable soul
…a resilient heart
…an unshaking hardworking body
…and the skill of luck
To escape the shackles of your birth

VII
So smile to your heart’s content
As you live in the unknowing of your fate
Laugh to your soul’s desire
…as the dawn of awareness will uproot your happiness
Ignorance is your current bliss
I wish I could freeze you to stay this way
…till your forever ever after
But I walk not in the power of miracles
I leave you to your future battles
With a prayer of mercy
…to help you find a way
…to climb out of this hell hole
Amoafowaa Sefa Cecilia © October 14, 2020