by Soyombo Ayomikun
‘Don’t whistle child
While it is night
As doing so will invite the snakes
From deep within the wild…’
One day
As the moon shone brightly
I whistled
No snake(s) showed!
‘Don’t you dare
Cut your nails at night
Because the mother of
Whoever does that
Before dawn
Would be dead…’
I didn’t dare
As I feared the worst.
But shortly I saw another
Who cut his nails
At night-
He’s still alive breathing
Together with his
Mother!
‘Whenever it’s raining
With the sun shining bright
Concurrently,
The lionesses in the wilderness
Go into labour and deliver…’
This I believed
Till I could read
Then I learnt from the books
That lionesses deliver whenever
The water
Breaks!
‘While it is raining
Don’t drink directly
From the rain water
With cupped
Hands.
If you should do
And it thunders at the same time
Then death
Will be the result…’
One day it rained
And I was playing
In it
The water felt cold to my skin
My throat longed
For sips
I opened my mouth
Gently
And swallowed
From my cupped
Hands.
Immediately thunder sounded,
With shock I opened my mouth
Again
And more water
Flowed in-
I saw
The next day!
‘On the mortar
You must never sit
Otherwise your buttocks
Will swell & become
Very painful…’
The day came
When the family was seated
Outside the house
Gisting.
I needed to sit
As my legs ached.
Damning the consequences
I sank
On the mortar-
Afterwards
My buttocks remained
Small, and round
And painless!
‘Don’t beat a boy
With a broom,
Else his penis
Would shrink
Forever…’
Out of anger
I was struck
With a broom
By a teacher
Who should know more.
I felt my penis
Shrink.
On rushing to check
In the toilet
I met it the same!
Also we were told
That singing
To the doves
We would see our nails
Transformed into white.
For years
I sang the song
To doves
Flying by:
‘L’eke l’eke
Bami l’eke
Eye Adaba
Bami l’eke.’
My nails
Adamantly refused to
Turn white.
Despite all
I still revere
Our elders.
Their magic contained us
For decades!
Soyombo Ayomikun tweets from @alabaster85
interesting.