POEM: I ENDURE MY MANHOOD

Whenever childhood tears flowed

I was censured never to cry like a girl

Mine was to endure as a boy,

not to compete with my sisters.

It didn’t take lots of time

Before clear demarcations arose

Between the duties of my sisters and me:

never step into the kitchen,

never touch the dishes,

never serve food

never collect firewood or water.

As I grew into youth

mine was school

and to idle with the rest of the men.

Everything was taken care of

by my mother and sisters

who had no authority

to question my life.

Dad congratulated my manhood:

(I commanded the women

to prepare water for my bath

and complained if meals delayed,

or the bed was not made).

“That is how they are molded

into responsible and mature mothers”

But time seems to rob us of manhood:

my sisters perform better than me in school,

my sister takes care of us,

my sister-in-law built our new home.

Time seems rob us of manhood:

A woman is my proud father’s boss.

I wonder how is able

to endure instructions from her.

I wonder how I consulted

that brilliant girl in my college

who is a mathematics genius

I wonder how I married

a woman with a job

while I stay at home

to care of the children, do domestic chores.

Oh! My manhood is gone -

With the arms of time.