Norman Mwale [The PenPusher]
Don’t be surprised about this
My invitation
At your Aunt’s place
Yes, l was there during this hour of
The laughing hyenas
This dawn of the owls
And during that dead silence
She called me into her round hut
While separating grain manually from
Her grain basket
And offered me a sit on the floor
On the reed mate side by side,
In a while, she handed over to me
A calabash of mellow water
Not to drink myself but pass on to her
Husband who was seated at easy,
And chiseling the mouthpiece of his
Cow-horn trumpet,
I channelled the bottle gourd as standing
With no honour,
I saw her eyes stuck in my face
Her one eye blinking heavily at me
And she pointed to the dung smeared
Floor
With her head following her finger,
I was quick to know what the blink
And the finger were all about,
I then lowered and kissed the floor
With my knees
And passed on the gourd as she smiled
Upon
She never said a word, for obeisance
Was taught in grave silence,
It was during this weensy hour of the
Morning
When she took me away from the
Warmly dream
And showed me the narrow strip to the
Stream
Which wore beads of biting dew
That irritated me to the bone
Imagine how dark, before a single cork
Crowed
Alone in the dark and silence!
There after invited me into her sleeping
Room
And wrapped my head with a
Wrapper scarf
As saying my hair was precious to be
Seen by every men
And she gave me a mirror to look at
From where l saw a reflection of
A woman to come,
Then smiled staring at me and said,
A young woman’s virtues are like seed
In unbusted shell!
She footed me to a nearby forest
To collect some firewood
There l was uselessly tired to carry the
Enormous bunch of wood
I tossed it to the ground and heaved
For relief
She poised a joyful laughter and said,
Women are the precipitous ants
Who do not cease to drag leaves
Into their nests,
Remember rain will come
And finds you with no seasoned wood,
These were her last words,
Believe me my love am just arriving
At You from your aunt’s place
If it were not for my mother who
Awakened me from this beautiful dream,
Could have enjoyed staying for long
By your aunt’s village!
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