twenty sixteen ✓

day seventy

Date: 26-05-2015

A Broken Path

Mama told me she would come home
She went to the market to buy meat
She promised me kofta for dinner
Said I was doing good at school
Said she was proud.

My ears could pick nature miles away
Waiting for the jingle of her bracelets to deliver through a breeze
For the laugh in her eyes to sneak out through her thin, cracked lips
For my night to turn to Light.
For her.

But the wind did not sing
It did not carry her voice
But anger in its place.
The windows beat against the hinges.
The air howled cries of restless souls.
A storm was on its way.

I heard it then:
One knock on the door.
Another - louder, this time.
The wood creaked, the door rattled,
And. It. Fell.
Darkness hovered above me,
And held captive in it was my Light.

Mama's eyes were red as blood,
Her beautiful midnight hair in the fists of a shadow
A man
She was begging, pleading
Crying in a voice I didn't know was hers
"Let him go."

I didn't know.
Not then,
That these were not shadows but monsters,
Their coal eyes branding me
Worthy? Unworthy?

They dragged her toward me,
Shook her face in front of mine like a ragged doll
Yelling at me, asking, if this is my mama.
If I needed her.

I couldn't speak.
My voice buried deep in my stomach
I looked up at these frightening men
These men who were hurting my mama
I wanted them to let go of her
I wanted to stand up and fight
But I was scared.
Too scared.

One of the men spit in my direction
Told me I was a lucky boy..
Said they would spare me.
Mama thanked Allah and fell at the man's feet
He kicked her in the stomach
But she still cried out to God, tears flowing down her reddened cheeks,
Thanking him for being a merciful Allah.

And I watched through the open doorway,
I watched, paralyzed as I sat on the harsh, brown sand,
Watched as they pulled her out to the street
Watched as they took a knife
Watched as they brought it to her throat
And watched as she turned to me and sang the last time
"I love you."

Mama told me she would come home.
She has.