ALBINO

Do not keep my greeting for too long lonely wanderer

It will grow cold

Send it swiftly to the door of my patient mother

She waits through the rigour of the night and outlasts the day too,

Holding fast to her lantern of hope.


I left home on an untold day

Before the cock could find its voice to raise the alarm

Mama came to my hut to wake me up,

Only to find me, prey to the wind

Maybe she screamed for her neighbours, or she searched for me first

Maybe Mama shed tears and seemed inconsolable

But know this for certain that she sat in the dust in the middle of her compound,

Beat the earth three times with both hands,

Placed them on her chest and

Smiled.

Nana Asaase © November 22, 2011