Written by: Admin_SheEvo
AfroWomenPoetry founded by Antonella Sinopoli narrates the stories of African women through poetry moving from country to country across Sub Saharan Africa. In collaboration with AfroWomenPoetry, SheEvolves invites you into the world of Ghana’s female poets
Poem by Afia Amoaa Oppong-Kwakye
Child Not Bride
Under the silvery stare of the moon
The children sat to listen to soul refreshing tales
Beneath the starry blue skies, we laughed
and galloped our ignorance of the world away
It was in the nakedness of the breeze
that I learned to smile my soul away
And I enjoyed it
A perfect peace
But out of the blue came the 59 year old
Weary man Alhaji
His defective smile exposing his cola nut stained teeth
With a keg of palm wine and a sadden cow in hand
That moment, every joy I have known
Turned to ashes in my mouth
The very ground on which I stood gave me up
The warm uterus I knew turned cold
The strong arms that protected me slipped off
Like garbage, I was rejected
abandoned
disposed
That night my guardian angel had darkness for a smile
My innocence forced out of my being
I had tears for supper
That night, that devastating, dismantling, smashing, shattering night
The stain on my body could not be cleansed
I battled with unknown demons he possessed
and as if by magic, he planted his seed
on my tiny piece of fertile land
I sat helplessly watch my childhood tiptoe away from me
The moments I spent with my friends
crushing right in front of me
I am just a child but you stole my childhood
You murdered my joy
You snatched my happiness
You strangled my future right before my eyes
I’m a child
Not a bride
My body, my soul, my spirit, my being you tortured
When the seed you planted withered and died,
You branded me a witch
I am just a child but you stole my childhood
You snatched my joy
You murdered my happiness
You strangled my future right before my eyes
Please give me back my childhood
I am a child not a bride
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