Friday 15 July 2016

Evanescence of Life



The first time we met
You must have had a different reason, I bet
The one that brings to the fore all the hurts
Damn! It was possibly to gratify your ego

You know you should have let go long ago
But you held on to boost your self-esteem
And indulged because it made you come alive
If only you knew it was just a moment in time

All I long to see is the smiles on your face
Waking up to all the late night talks
The endless drama when you deny me
The cackle when the chatter box falls back

All the communing and hand holding
The walks and shopping at the malls
The talks and show of balls
The rise and falls

Oh, this narrative is set in the past
A reminder that nothing lasts
That, moments should be ceased
That, life is evanescent.














 The writer tweets @vilejah

Friday 29 April 2016

The Ultimatum

The Mis-con-ception...

For the first time in her entire twenty-six year old Christian life, going through the two hewed marble pillars which serves as the entrance to the vast Church compound that fateful Sunday morning was the most dreadful. She instinctively looked to the left to see if Pastor Wiafe’s overused Hyundai i10 which served as a reminder of his modesty, was parked in front of the magnificent whitewashed building but did not see any car.  The lawn in front of the two-storey building which serves as the Pastors’ common room was deserted too, signaling Pastor Wiafe’s absence. As if on cue, she turned to look to the right and saw a handful of people scurrying off towards the domineering Church building situated at the far end of the vast compound.
 
She gazed at the dashing folks and did not know what to make of them. Maybe, she should just bore into their minds and find out if they were in Church for salvation and to do the will of God or if they were just in church to use it as a means to a superficial end. But before she could restrain herself from these self-absorbing thoughts, she was interrupted by the loud clanging of the towering Church bells signaling the beginning of the day’s programme. 

The startling effect from the clanging bells which annoyed her so much set her thinking as to why the church was still using tolling bells in a world where everyone has a gadget or two with a time feature and are not premised around the Church anyway.  What beats her even more was how she has never thought about this until now that everything seemed wishy-washy about the Church. And this is how she knew that her predicament was having a toll on her. It was the same time she felt a cold, damp tear trickle down her cheeks. 

“Oh not again!” she muttered as she reached for a box of tissue paper in a bag she clutched under her armpit.

She bit her lower lip which was already swollen as though, it will prevent the tear ducts from allowing the tears to freely flow, but her pre-occupation was more on how to avoid being the centre of any unnecessary drama where everyone would be heaping empathy on her as though she was incapable of taking care of herself. No! She was too strong for that.

As far as her wobbly legs and shaky frame could carry her, she moved from her initial spot where she was sobbing into the shadow which has been casted by the purported Jerusalem walls of the Church as she dabs the free flowing tears. 

Although, she is not keen on what she wants any longer, one thing remains clear, which is, she is not going to allow anyone to come near her again, let alone tell her what she should do thenceforth, especially her Mother’s friends who professes to be the epitome of morality and know everything from Archeology to Zoology to finally shatter her already dented and fractured ego. Thanks to them and other Church people, she is no longer cheerful and enthusiastic about life. 

If she had not been led astray by everyone; Pastor Wiafe inclusive, that, marriage was the panacea to her
numerous problems, she would not have ended up losing faith in the oversimplified tenets of the Church. Recalling their beliefs and their numerous experts’ advice as though it was a magic wand only threw her into another bout of uncontrollable sobs and she knew she was a sorry sight by now. Without mincing thoughts, she has come to believe that, the church is more responsible for afflicting the souls of the lost and wandering flock of sheep it claims to be saving by overstepping their boundaries and staying aloof when it was mostly needed.

Thankfully, she was not in Church that fateful morning to fellowship, she was done with Church. She came to see pastor Wiafe to discuss pertinent issues which were crucial to her marriage since he was the assigned Pastor who nurtured them spiritually and also doubled as their counselor when she was about getting married. Infact, he was the one who convinced her to marry Roland. Her three weeks marriage is on the verge of breaking and she doesn’t know if she even wants to save it…

The writer tweets @vilejah