AN ODE TO OUR MOTHER

Oh mother!
How have we used you!
You gave us an abode
You gave us nature
You gave us beauty
But we wanted more
We used our brains and our hands
And we discovered
We created and we created
We were exceeding glad
Because we were bold
So we took as we discovered use

You gave to your detriment
Your generosity, your undoing
You held nothing back
We are your children
What you have is ours to use
And so freely, you gave all
Our unquenchable thirst for knowledge
Our insatiable hunger for novelty
Our unnecessary love for domination
And we bruised you
Oh, we bruised you sore!
Your once unblemished beauty
Is now a distant memory
The ever-doting mother
Who lacked vocal prowess
For her self-defense
Her love was all about giving
Giving to her plundering offspring
Now  she lays in her death bed
Having met her elastic limit
Her substance drained for energy
Her umbrella in tatters
Barely keeping out the harsh sun
Her tears come in floods
She wheezes and sneezes
The magnitude of her shivers
Brings to the ground
Our skyward monuments
Her lands have become barren
As she grows bald
In the epiphany that followed
We see how we neglected you
Our hope, our sustenance
Our promise for generations unborn

Hang on mother
With many tears we plead
Not all our brothers understand
The gravity of your illness
We will spread your selfless gospel
That gives all till there is no more
We love you but you loved us more
Your over-indulgence left us pampered
That we failed to see the signs
Have mercy mother
And do not die

3:12: 2012.

Malcolm O. Ifi.

Follow on twitter @saymalcolm