Rainbow Colours Of Poverty
Rainbow Colours Of Poverty
For the children refusing to give up…
It isn’t the reality of penniless-ness that kills,
It’s the solid paradigm shift of not being able to have a penny.
And it starts with the colour red
Where there’s a vulture with a blood-soaked beak, like the messengers to announce
Your blessings are being injured and murdered,
And a strange vulture makes sure they stay that way.
Then daddy begins to spend more time in morning devotions
Our knees are forced into matrimony with the ground with no room for divorce, and I’d take my pen and
Write a summary of only four words despite the litany of requests.
“Lord, make me prosper”, “Lord, make me prosper”.
The orange colour never comes to play, no.
It’s the colour yellow that sets the pace for “go get ready, you’re going to spend some time with your uncle”.
It sounds like a jolly holiday, but believe me,
Daddy is only throwing out one in a thousand responsibilities saddled on his shoulders —
One out of seven children gave him.
He thinks that all will turn green
When everyone is gone, dispatched to all his money-well siblings.
Perhaps stronger bonds between nieces and aunties, nephews and uncles
Will take data subscriptions and school fee payments off his parenting table.
And then you wonder whether there was any faith at all despite the rigorous morning rituals of prayer.
Daddy has evidently slept into despair,
Looking for the easy way out.
Blue isn’t a colour to pray for,
’Cause if everything goes blue, then even the children
Have lost all their dreams too.
So red, yellow, green and blue are the rainbow colours of poverty,
Yet blue should never be a colour to manifest.
So, for the sake of your father,
For the sake of your future, persevere!