DUMSOR

A candle stands in the middle of my floor

Cemented, cold and pot holed

Water glitters in my face

A heavy storm came last night

My corrugated leaking roof

Today will be its twenty fifth birthday

The number of years since my birth

I have owned it for only two years

Because the exposed electric wire killed my mother

And a storm swept my father into the Atlantic

A pair of tiny eyes graces the darkness that is home

Freckled, dainty and almost invisible

He holds an empty plate in his hand

We just ran out of garee this morning

My patched trousers carry only twenty peswes

The last of balance since last year when I came from work

I do not work at the construction site any more

My oga say we be too much for the small job

So I wake up and listen to the radio all day

Just in case the dumsor will give me a job

A large painting of Nkrumah hangs on my muddy wall

Crumbled, dusty and almost tearing apart

His kente still looks as new as the day we got independence

The streets were filled with light

And the nation full of might

Africa was on a flight bigger and better than ever was

A dream was realized and a nation restored

I look closer into his eyes

Pain, despair and a faint heart he holds

I sink into my darkness and hope for tomorrow

A droplet of water falls on my chest

It is warm, greasy and smells of fear

I hold her in my hands

And tell her to hold on for us

We have no health insurance for her malaria

The nurse at the hospital called us lice

Too dependent and lazy to work hard

My wife sold nkatie at the market

Then she stopped after the accident

She cannot go any more

A sharp pain in my right knee strains me

The wound is hot, itchy and oozy

It looks like a big bulb of light

Lightly yellow on the top and supple in the inside

I fell on sharp nails in the dark mines

The Chinese oga said it was not his fault

So I washed it with salt daily till I could wash no more

The sharp pain comes again and I strain

The last of my candle light has burned out

That is the dumsor that is my life