Isa Ishi Poem by Ezediuno Louis Odinakaose

…And the Mother of my Father
Her lament was bitter
When the cold hand of death
Carried away her most dear.

And the Mother of my Father
As she lay half mortal
To the heavens she plead
For her soul mate again to live.

But the gods turned against her
Quiet they stood afar
Like ears blocked with wax
They listened not to her.

Like herds of buffalos
With hearts dark and hollow
They came, they came, indi umu ada
Against the Mother of my Father.

‘Iga sa ishi'
They shouted with no mercy
And the Mother of my Father
Sobbed so bitter.
But her words to them
Were like oil droplet
Floating on water so cold
Like that of the poles

With so much hate and burning anger
They ripped off her akwa ocha and set it on fire
And the Mother of my Father
Was forced to wear a ravens' feather.

She was made to sit on bare ground
With head stone bald.
The bath water of her soul mate's corpse
Was given to her in a cup.

She most sa ishi
Even though she is innocent of the deed.
All day she must cry
A loud sober cry.

Three dreadful night like doom
She must share a single room
With the corpse of her soul mate
Now stiff like stone mace.

And the Mother of my Father
Cried aloud to amadioha
But amadioha stayed dumb
Like the grave yard at dawn.

All her soul mate owned
Has been taken away from her home.
To treat her like a felon, an ogre, a sinner
Is what tradition requires

She cursed them indi umuada
As she cried with no comforter
In the loneliness of her dark room
Where days' freedom has turned to nights' doom