SHORTSIGHTED SHEPHERDS

A fish will think itself a crocodile
With thoughts of living on land and in waters
It takes only a flip
…and a yearning for water
…to know otherwise
I have been served

I thought I was special
So so special
…that I lived chewing his name like a gum
…basking in his love like rum
Thinking our resources would become a sum
Looking down on singletons like many a bum
Until I was served

I was served
…served like one on death roll
While I gave myself for free,
…man was purchasing less with more
Oh I lived almost from hand to mouth
I could give my all
…thinking he had none at all
Going hungry in service of him
All the while resources to keep me well
…were working extra to serve his insatiable waist
I was served oh too well

Too well that the scent punched me in the stomach
…so I released previous meals like a marriage annulment
They flowed through my mouth
…as though they were never eaten

I was served
I was served too well that that breakfast’s oil went straight through my nose
…and my eyes, I suppose
Tears which had never been cultivated
…cut through queues to climb through eyelids
…just to walk the red carpet of my cheeks
…to wet the stage of my chest
I was oh so served

I was served
So much so those who heard me bragging
…even felt sorry for their prepared dragging
So they smiled piteously
…to make me see the generosity of their taunts
I was very well served

So I have learnt
…to put trust in a parcel of doubt
…to put dedication in a package of care
…to uproot vouching for another from even the hairs
…on my body
For there is none above disappointment
Sadly, only fools blame others
…for the expectations imposed on them
The culprit is always in the mirror
…looking miserably back at their shepherds
Amoafowaa Sefa Cecilia © October 21, 2026.