Songs of Anisha
“Marriage is a Miracle Here,”
by Peter Kayode Adegbie
Anna Kasumu is Kampala’s belle,
at last she is going to be a bride, lithe
like a gazelle, fresh like the stream
at first light, she laughs like a tinkle
of bells on a field of chrysanthemums
and her words dribble like early rain
when she announces her wedding to me.
I see joy dance in her eyes and love
stir her heart like new wine as we dance
around my office, priestly restraint cast
aside in the euphoria because, marriage
is a miracle here and Patrick Alonza
is a good catch. But she returns rigid
as a scarecrow, loose shoulder straps
and large insomnia bags, she sobs
torrents that run off my table, she’d failed.
No, Patrick didn’t know, she’d gone alone.
No, she’d never told him either of the night
at the Ambassador’s party when floating
on wine she spread her flowers under
the shower of the ambassadors guest.
One indiscretion and one major waste,
a scarred life and a marriage lost.
Marriage is such a miracle here.
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