You sit by your window at midnight
Awoken by those heartless rats and roaches
They invade your frightened thoughts
Like strange walls in your crevices
But these pests aren’t the aliens
Those words are, the stinging remarks
The biting stigma, filthy letters,
Overwhelming reports which hold no water
They said you were barren
And you said “I wasn’t even married”
True, you may be no Mary
But you’ve never been a Rahab or Angel
What is barrenness? Let’s ask Sarah
But it wasn’t just about Isaac
It was never the absence of pleasure
Maybe those words were empty and vain
But they steal into your mind
And boggle your brain like bombs
Work walls scream no promotion
The tyrant bosses suppress your dreams
Naija’s womb aborts you before conception
A bowl of rice in the market jests at you
Those grains of beans swim far from you
And the naysayers add drumbeat to lyrics
They never whisper, never, they scream
“Barren bitch, this grounds don’t befit you
Earth hates you and heathens will hang you”
They shout words your mind can’t interpret
Ask Google Translate or the next polyglot
But tell you, before you mourn all midnight
Who said you were barren?
Who holds the key to your doors?
Whose hands put bread in your mouth?
Whose legs know the path to your future?
Where were they when you made kobos?
Where will they be when your trillion topples?
Who said you were barren?
Have you seen Elizabeth?
Did you hear Sarah’s laughter?
Can Hannah’s grief run in your veins?
Did you meet Bill Gates as a little boy?
Does Oprah’s story make you meditate?
Chill, don’t chew or swallow that barrenness crap
Whether your womb is your hands or brain
Whether your style is skirt or pants
You are not barren. Barren isn’t you!!!
arrowbird 