Mama Preye's Ripe Mango by Robert Nabena

Her piercing smile,
Meant all was well.
Her protruding tummy,
Her tale to tell.

Shackled by beliefs
Hinged on lust
And the whims of greed.
Mama Preye's ripe mango,
Sold for a bottle of gin
And a keg of fresh palmwine.

Her value;
The worth of a cow,
Tied to the apron of a stranger
Led to a slaughter slab.

He whipped her hard,
And with each morsel,
Devoured his bowl of 'fufu'.

With audacious vigor,
Like a mangrove mosquito
He drilled for fresh blood
Oblivious of her pain,
Deeper than her bowels could contain.'

'Please be merciful
I am child not bride'
Mango's solemn plea,
A wink in the dark.

Holding on to a dry branch,
From a small frame
With a protruding tummy,
The bruise under her gown,
Told her tale.
Mama Preye's ripe mango,
Sold too early.

Robert Nabena

Robert Nabena is a Nigerian author and
contributing writer for various journals,
magazine and news letters.