Shuwa

Shuwa!

Share the sounds in my ear

Swirls and rustling in the air

Shekere sounds of ecstatic kernels

Of the slender long palms trees

Shuwa!

Share the soft clucking sounds

Of corn grains hitting the soil from mama’s palms

The cautious swoops and coos of pigeons

And the flapping angry dash of the cockerel

At the pigeons picking peas

Shuwa!

Share the rhythmical thudding of our mortar,

Light squishing of yelling yams

And tapping of my sisters bare feet

Like our exotic dancers in Tales by moonlight

Shuwa!

If only my eyes would wake

Shuwa!

If only my ears would prick

And my soul would beat

To the familiar reality of Shuwa.