Let Me Salute My Mother Poem by Chidi Anthony Opara, FIIM, CDOA

Let me lay my head
On this belly
Now flabby,
Belly that bore the sack,
Sack that once bore me
For first nine months.
Let me gaze
Into these eyeballs
Now sunken,
Eyeballs that once watched over me
All day and night.
Let me admire
These breasts
Now flattened by time,
Breasts that once suckled me.
Let me hold
These hands
Now weak,
Hands that once caressed me to sleep.
Let me salute this woman,
Then beautiful,
Now made weak by age.
Let me salute my mother.

(This poem is dedicated to my mother, Madam Catherine Ngam Opara, who taught me how to write my name in our thatched hut with hurricane lantern) .