Also, I will not forget your caressing hands,
which in love wondered all over my delicate body.
And whenever I was worried and anxious,
Those velvety hands of yours were my very blessed assurance.
And whenever I became rebellious for want of attention,
And whenever I protested angrily,
And whenever I was hungry and gave the usual sign,
kicking in that annoying restiveness of mine,
And whenever I was uncooperative inside the vessel of your love,
Still your disciplined hands were more reassuring than punishing.
And whenever I threw my infant legs about the place,
and into the vacant air, seeking sometime, undue attention,
Patting your tommy to keep me calm was in love done
and more reassuring than punishing.
And when irritant me would not let you be,
And when irritant me would not even let you a moment’s rest nor sleep,
Again, stroking your belly very lightly was more reassuring than punishing,
And when in the vessel of your love in the womb,
You were careful,
(You were) gentle,
(You were) tender,
(You were) wary,
(You were) attentive,
(You were) caring,
Ever and always reassuring,
Ever singing those melodious tunes of yours,
In entertainment of your irritant baby – me,
And my infancy,
Ever singing those melodious lullabies,
Ever protective,
Ever prayerful for my safe voyage to earth,
Ever affectionate and loving,
Your love indeed, and your affection heightened my interest
To embark on my earthly journey unpetrified –
the gold region of the universe which about you whispered to me,
is also a place of boundless joy and enthusiasm,
unparalleled exploration, adventures
and limitless opportunities!
This earth, you said again, is the universal garden of Owolicho,
full of beauties, goodness, kindness, and loving people!
Enu, I was that your child whom Oludo announced to *Ogbogbo,
Great and loving grandmother that you, Imama, have at Ochubi
a baby found by the bottom of a coconut tree!
Therefore, on this Mother’s Day, especially for the care and love,
Affection, tenderness, unparalleled parenting, and discipline,
Training me up in the way I should go in life,
and parenting me to become the child, and now, a man of your dream,
This Day offers me the rare and unique opportunity to say to you
my two eternal words of gratitude:
THANK YOU & ALL MY LOVE, Enu.
*Written on the 19th of March 2022 at Hoddesdon, England to commemorate this year’s Mother’s Day. This poem, which is in honour of my late Mother, Mama, Oji Eneyi Aduma, nee Wonah Ogbudu is dedicated to all mothers the world over.
Enu – Yala, for mother or Imama or Mama. The full rendering is Ene yu (my mother).
Owolicho – God in the Highest (The Almighty God).
Oludo – The name of my immediate elder sister, Eucharia Ogeyi Oludo Aduma, very caring and loving. Now late, she it was who ran from our paternal family compound at Ochubi, Okpoma in the present Yala Local Government Area of Cross River State of Nigeria to announce my birth to our grandmother whom she called “Ogbogbo” (name’s sake), the name all of us after her grew up with and so called our maternal grandmother, Ogeyi Eloh.
My sister announced my birth to her and others, thus: “Ogbogbo, Ogbogbo, ‘mama has found a child at the bottom of a coconut tree!”
