An Orphan's Tale

Literature is meant to stir the soul. It has the power to draw out emotions, challenge

perspectives, and reveal truths, even when those truths do not align with our personal

beliefs. As you read this poem, I hope it evokes something deep within you— I'll leave

that to you.

Whether you read this as the orphan, the uncle, the teacher, the preacher, or an onlooker in society, my prayer is that you find the Light.

God bless!

An Orphan's Tale

A Poem by Gemma R.

On just another regular day, a sunny one or a rainy one, it really doesn’t matter

For everything will merge into a dark and dreary blur

You may not feel the immediate sting and you may fail to hear the ominous wind

It may take you some years to taste the bitterness of this new setting

But you will know that something has changed.

You will hear it from the wails of the women and from your grandmother’s sudden arrival

You will see it from your uncles’ scurrying and random acts of the children’s kindness.

You have just been orphaned.

“Ama aku” your older sibling will add to last year’s “Aba aku” as you struggle for fresh

air in the tightly cramped store room some aunty had shoved you into.

“Are they taking her to the place with blue curtains?” you may ask.

Maybe. Will she come back?

You’re about to find out.

She did come back. In a brown box.

Your uncles took her to the tiny village church then to someplace else.

You will share your home with relatives you do not know for a week.

Then your fate will be decided by whichever kind Aunty or Uncle decides to take you

home with them.

In a twinkle of an eye, you will be estranged from your siblings.

You will be told to be obedient to your parents and to love your new siblings.

You might even have to take on their last name.

There’s no difference between you all, you’re all my children.

Dear orphan, do not believe that lie.

All children are equal but some are more equal than others.

Soon, you’ll work twice and thrice as hard to prove you’re worth their while.

You may eat small portions so you save up on house supplies.

God save you if you do not have the best grades.

You may have to walk to a community school while Uncle rolls out in his jeep with tinted

windows – his more equal children in the backseat.

You must be grateful; at least your uniform is not as tattered as the other children in

your school.

However grossly inadequate, help was rendered. Be grateful.

Do your chores with due diligence, do not skip school or church.

You might fall into the good graces of a teacher or a preacher.

Hold up your head. Be proudly you. Write your story and share it with the world.

Dear orphan, do not write that story.

You will. Because you desperately want to be seen.

Someone reaches out

Suddenly, you’re in a better school, away from your wicked Uncle's prison.

Now you eat good portions, you have a shiner complexion, you wear good clothes. You

are blossoming.

Kids want to be like you; you are somebody’s dream.

Dear orphan, do not be deceived, Nobody wants to be you.

Years go by, and you keep sharing your story with the world

Until one day, the story itself is used to judge you.

You exceedingly excel as is your nature

You were denied the prize.

You look at the declared winner winged by their beaming parents

It takes you but a moment to realize that your stories were your own undoing.

There’s no one to accompany you to collect the prize. It wouldn’t look good on the front

covers.

Everyone loves a charity case until it’s time to lend a hand to them without public

applause.

So, you stop the storytelling and rely on privacy.

The kind teacher and preacher will not have it.

It takes you a moment, but soon you realize that the good food, clothes and new school

were never from personal generosity.

Your stories were the bane of that never ending revenue stream.

Your pain was only a means to an end. You have been played.

Write or get out!

Dear orphan, do not get out.

But you will.

You’ll soon find out that you made the gravest mistake.

You are back in the lion’s den. Now everyone in the zoo you left will jeer at you.

“Don’t worry, nobody’s disappointed, it’s not like your parents are here.”

You can never disappoint anyone. You're Disappointment.

A fall from grace to grass?

How can a man lying down fall?

Take everything they throw at you. Expect nothing. Be silent. Be grateful.

The only luxury life has afforded you is the fluidity to be whatever everyone else needs

you to be.

Dear orphan, this is what it means to be you.

*Ama aku - Mother is dead in Bace language

*Aba aku- Father is dead in Bace language