A FACE LIKE MINE

                                        

I lie in a hospital bed;

No name to my face,

Abandoned babe,

Small and skinny,

Disease infested

Death knocking-

You stop,

Stare

Move on.

But I doubt you’ll forget a face like mine.

 

I sit at a busy street;

Six year old beggar,

Runny nose,

Lice infested,

Swollen belly,

Hunger biting-

You stare

Walk by.

But I doubt you’ll forget a face like mine.

 

I stand at the roadside;

Twelve years I’ll make tonight,

Too small my clothes,

Skinny body, freezing cold

Eyes popping n all,

Scared of the male prowlers

You walk by-

Pity and jeer.

But I doubt you’ll forget a face like mine.

 

I squat in a seemingly abandoned toilet;

Eighteen years last week,

Metallic hunger down myself,

Little foetus bleeding out-

You see me,

Call the police,

Not the doctors!

Gang up

Beat me.

But I doubt you’ll forget a face like mine.

 

I sit outside my slum;

Twenty four years old last month,

A limp in my walk,

Broken bones n scars,

Our kids’ hiding-

He’s back home,

Their father!

You whisper,

Point fingers

But I doubt you’ll forget a face like mine.

 

Am running away now;

Thirty two years old two months ago,

My children with me,

Nowhere to go

But am leaving,

The streets my friend…

You despise me,

Family wrecker,

But am leaving-

And I doubt you’ll ever forget a face like mine.

 

Am lying on my death bed;

Forty five years of age last November,

My face too old for my age,

My body too frail to fathom,

My grandchildren-

The few that approach me,

They love me!

It’s all that matters.

Am dying content,

I made peace with my God.

And now- you may forget a face like mine.

 

            OROGOT PAMELA