Grief and Denial

                                               

©nnamdiudoka
Grief and Denials '16

His eyes were half closed

A gleam at each tapered end

The cool night breeze wafted to them

Through the hut's lone window

Its arrival celebrated only 

by the gyrating oil lamp

While she knelt by his bed

And watched him lie

"Anulika", he called to her

A hoarse whisper

Barely discernable  

"Nnam ukwu", her voice did not quaver

She belonged to him

And herself

"The   night   will   be   long"

The words didn't come easy

Coughed up from the depths of his debility

"Never   forget   tomorrow.

Live   for   tomorrow"

She almost promised she would

With that metallic voice

That denial of the sorrow

Crouching behind the covers

Like the patient darkness

That ambushed their hut

She almost promised she would

But he was already gone

A blank stare in the eyes

Where he had been

And an insistent lump in the throat

Where her words had stood

She pushed aside the door mat

And ducked out of the hut

The darkness came to her then

On the shoulder of the hill

Somewhere a frog 

Croaked a cheerful song

And the wind played with her wrapper

Darting up and about its billowing end

Dancing in step

With the sounds of the night forest

The world too was in denial

For her man was gone

And that's  when the grief took her

The sorrow

The sobs shook her

While Mother earth watched 

Starry eyed

And a grin on her crescent moon lips

©nnamdiudoka