LITTLE SAILOR BOY: A Poem for Mama
(For Hajia Ajumayi Ojile Omale, R.I.P. November 15th, 2015)
Silence envelopes my ship of dreams
My kit of songs…
Little sailor boy sitting on the masthead
In this dust-haze and solemn cadence
Of a dreamy Harmattan night
Distant horizon… moonlight glittering on the face of the
sea
Does the sea have an end?
Nomad floating from scene to séance on the runway
Of self- discovery, searching for meaning
Tonight I bear the wrapped body of my mother
To the gate of the after-life
I, whose duty it is to usher her benevolent
soul
With salaams, kind words that opens the gate of the
after-life
Help me; help me, kind merciful Gabriel
Help me, little sailor boy, a cold chill numbs my heart
And my blood boils in my veins
Silence envelopes my ship of dreams
My kit of songs, bard devoid of words
I muster all the wind in my lungs, here at this majestic
gate
Of the after-life, this terribly cold-windy night
And utter the salaams to open the gate of Heaven
Kind merciful Gabriel, please receive the soul of Ajumayi
Woman who believed ultimately in God
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Poem © Omale Allen Abdul-jabbar
Image: Pixabay.com