A small bodied thing
Upon announcing the arrival
Of my brother’s first daughter,
My mother fractured into watershed,
Tears so heavy you could assume
Someone died in our house.
How a thing of joy can spark tears
in the eyes of an old lady.
She is a late arrival, the baby
had spent an extra month
In her mother’s belly
& the neighbors were already
Speaking silently about it.
Ayo abaratintin —Joy,
so small-bodied.
This could be Aunty Bose
Coming back home to us.