HER FIRST DAY AS A GHOST (AKUDAAYA)

As the day grew brighter beyond the horizon
The hut boiled with shrieks from broken men
Papa sat on a low stool
Head bowed in deep sorrow
Mama sat on the ground crying

She stood in the centre
Why are they calling her name in whispers?
“Anjorin do not leave us

She thought this weird and stupid
How can she be gone
When she stood right in front of them
How can they all be blinded with tears
Pretending not to see her

She touched mama
Wanting to say cry no more
But her hands floated through her
With ease of something swinging in the wind
She drew back with her brow furrowed
A shock ran through her
Then she saw her body laid on a mat
Motionless and lifeless
Is she dead?

A strong wind flooded the room
Pulling her out through the walls and then the roof
She wanted to hold on in that room a while
But the force acting upon her is greater
Helplessly she drifted towards the spirit realm
What she didn't know yet is that
She's too young to enter through the gates of the dead
So she will lurk the woods and wander the shores at noons
Until the time is right for her to truly die

She had believed ghosts to be a myth and nothing more
But now she has not only seen it
She had become one forever

© Olatuja Oloyede

Akudaya is a spirit that roams the world because they died a cruel and untimely death according to the Yorubas. This poem draws on that inspiration