Life Interrupted

Her mind so far gone
Thoughts of cannibalism
Form out of pure necessity
Her round buttocks
And ample ankles
Once a sign of her beauty
And bounty
Now just mere scraps
Bits and pieces
Of a mother’s desperate sacrificial offer
Of a last meal
A last desperate grasp at life
To nurture the lifeless infant in her arms
Latching on to what use to be her nipples
Her once proud saluting breast
So far fallen
Like her spirit
Her people

Poets
Artists
Teachers
And Dreamers

Engineers
Farmers
Architectures
And so many damn politicians

But you’ll never hear her story

For CNN does give you that coverage
So the only acknowledgement of her kind
Are represented through images of thievery
Of piracy
Oh high seas
Once sailing high hopes
In land forgotten
Where the blood runs
As abundantly
And just as viciously
As the tide
That claimed the life of her first son
Her second son
And surely will be back for the third

Regardless though
She’s his mother
The only title not yet stripped of her
For her dignity
Her pride
And her body
Have long been
Bargained with
For her ability to still draw breath
And call herself his mother

So she nurses him
With the last reminding
Drops of her
Blood
Tears
And sweat
And arms him
With loaded load of integrity
A fist full of hope
And a simple promise
That as long as she’s alive
She will always be his heavy artillery

But her days are number
His future grim
Soon her sweet lullabies
Will be drowned out by sweet sounding grenades
And her loving arms
Will be replaced by
By a loving AK 47
That has the ability
To hug his frail body
Just as tightly as her arms once use to

And the saddest part of this story is
It’s as familiar to me
As ONCE UPON A TIME is to you
Although it’s already been told
Time and time again
In Somali
In Arabic
In Oromo
In Swahili
In Tigrinya
In Amharic
In Kirundi
In Yoruba
In Nubian
In French
In English
it sadly remains untold
The tall tale
Of a life interrupted

Hayat Ali Aka
“Twisted Elegance

Copyright ©2009