As I set my gaze
On the ancient
Black and white portraits
Of Ama Ghana
Hanged in grandpa’s chambers
Told a story of centuries
About the tropical
African woman
In whose era
We termed as
The period of “inkurasisem”
For dressing to please
The intelligence of the grey
Hair man
Who sat under the
“Nyame dua” to weave
Words of wisdom
For the unborn generations
I have starved my eyes
For decades
Hoping to see the era
Where uncivilized illiterate
African woman felt the
Need to cover
Her motherhood
The era where the title
Of “ewurabaship”
Was not conferred on one’s ability
To speak in the queen’s language
But where the title
Was given by one’s
Ability to demonstrate
Decency in their dressing
Where is ewurabaship?
The era where African woman
Dressed to injured the
Appetite of rapists
A period where African
Women felt ashamed
To advertise even their legs
To the passing eyes
My tongue is stained
With questions
And my mind pregnant
With ‘why’ and ‘how’
I weep within my soul
As the day sells
Its glory to the darkness
On why African women
Have taken the centre stage
Of exhibiting their
Motherhood to the world
Oh! Where is ewurabaship?
So our women no more feel
Shy to expose
The parts of their body
Where grandpa paid a dowry
To survey during
The midnight when
Dews fall on farmlands
Where is ewurabaship?
Is it the education?
That we were told to make
Us wise rather causing
Our women to be fools?
Where is ewurabaship?
The illiterate African woman
Who never read the alphabets
Demonstrated the
Sense of ewurabaship
But the generation
Whose thought
Are guided by philosophies
And theories
See no need to cover
Their nudity on the streets
Where is the era of ewurabaship?
translation of words (inkurasisem means a barbaric act. Nyame dua is a tree called alstonia boonei)
