FOR A CHANGE

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 By Sr. Esther Jeruto Koros  OSF



She got into a wedlock, blissful and peaceful, or so it seemed.

But, don’t count on it, it didn’t last long, got doomed.

It is not what you can guess, that broke in between.

Not a being, a woman who snuck and stole his heart.

Not a being, a man who stole a carnal glance at her.

                                                                    Not a foolish habit, a drinking spree for instance.

 

 

A few months elapsed, and nobody gasped,

It is always the older women who start stuttering

‘isn’t there a deposition already? Why the flat tummy?’

May be Shoot is not actually a good shooter, missing targets.

They lamented feebly, voices subdued, all conjured.

But a man is never guilty of such.

 

Across the fence, voices crept in, accusing her.

‘Did you kill some? Stuffed into a pit latrine?

Or may be sold your womb to the Chinese venders?

Or may be swallowed too many pills

And now the pills are billing on you?’

It is clearly a woman’s, feminine incapability.

 

The man, smashing looks, killer smiles, deep voice.

Glittering suits, exquisite career, massive income.

So that when he proposed to her, the gasps bemoaned the undeserved

Like The Mayor of Caster- bridge, he could have done better

Such are the spectators’ judgements, unsolicited opinions.

And the Luceta failed terribly, and whispers, ‘I knew it’, grew.

 

May be they had looked too long to the East for the rising sun

Yet the sun for a change, emerged from the West, East bound

It wasn’t after all her fault, that her womb’s cravings were unfulfilled

Or her household devoid of a baby’s cry

Or her wedlock not completed at the summit of fecundity

 

The exquisite fellow, it should be known, was incapable of shooting right.

Unlock the wedlock, silence the whispers, let the truth out;

Accuse him too, let the world know, how low he shot.

For a change, Just for a change.

 

© December 2020


Dedication to my sisters. 


072617989 

essyjeru@gmail.com 

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