The Black Chalice by Maryjacob

 

Our stories you claim you've never heard,

Our pain that you've swept beneath,

From the beginning that you stayed so blind,

Refusing the reality so real...

My heart and yours to young Ochanya,

With all sincerity to little Bokamoso and Edna,

It was the fail of us adults,

The burn from existing with the wrong...

Let's extend all love flows to Blessing,

And every child we let monsters devour,

Let's hold the hands of  strong Bupe,

For letting patriarchy decide her future...

Break the silence for little Aisha,

For Kamaria and our darling Chioma,

We should have protected them from their trust,

They deserve all things beautiful...

Penda would have had it better,

Keri, Chidera, Wanjiru, Bola, even Kalenga,

Kilimanjaro too high and Lake chad too wide,

But none bigger than the shadow that shut their sights...

Lola, Linda, Minehje, Enayi, and Chabota were adults,

Yet we refused them leading their lives,

Held sermons of societal expectations,

And pushed them to battery till blackout...

Did the stereo ever sing of  Mariam

When vision left her only to guess the danger,

Or did it go louder than Gong,

When the clutches didn't let Boma run...

Have you heard the trauma sound,

The one that roamed the streets of Sunset,

And pronounced Chika a shame,

After the Shame Unzipped her garment?

Did it ever occur to the "logic" ones,

That Monde was special, not artificial,

Maybe it was a logic-deprived reality,

For they dragged her worse than a rag...

Where was their sanity?

When they took to inhumanity as a cure,

A cure to their own insanity,

They skinned her joy in cold-blood...

What did patriarchy write,

About the choices of her body and her pleasure,

How long will darkness lead,

Even when the light is here with us...

Wake up already,

To the rise and echos of redemption,

For now, we know better,

That the fault is to all that turn a blind eye...

Shouldn't we work to Balance for better?

Or do we walk another mile all bitter

Holding against the beauty and strength of the alters,

Reciting the dreaded tale of poisoned butter

It is my call and yours too,

To unapologetically work for balance,

As we hold and smile to the little ones,

Working intersectionally to build the present and a better future for them all.

I am BLACK,

I am a WOMAN,

I am HUMAN,

I make all of my CHOICES for ME.

by

Maryjacob Okwuosa,

08-03-2019

International Women's Day 2019.