Analysis of Dear Mother



She bears a lot of offspring and clothes them in many colors
They are gifts to the world.
Some are hostile, while others are hostages
She is just like any other mother that gives birth to children with different personalities
Don't throw blames at her
She did her best to raise them in fear and trembling.
She inscribed her culture in their heart and wraps tradition around their neck.

Oh poor mother
Look at her
Who shall instill in her offspring those values again?
She was at peace with her children until the sea vomits aliens on her shores.
They tore her up and ravage her hut.
Stole her ornaments and her children.
Oh poor mother
She grief her lost sons.

Her daughters were spit upon with scorn.
Their virginity was like a flower to them.
Look what those pride of lions did to your daughters, oh dear mother.
They took her cherished flower.
Her story was told through tears and pain.
She was forced to dance with the burden of pain and her husband slain in her presence.

Listen, dear mother
Listen to the voice of your children in the wilderness.
A strange home with no drums to dance to at night.
Or the sweet melodious sound of the horn wavering through the wind in the solitude of the night.

Oh poor mother
Your children can no longer recognize the baobab tree you sat under and tell those folktales
Their home seems alienated to them now
They look at your sweet-savory food with a perplexed gaze.

The sound of your language is strange to their ears
They can no longer understand your tongue, dear mother
They are now strangers to their brothers.

Dear mother, I think you lost your children
What shall I tell them to remind them that they were birthed from you?

I shall show them my skin color and scar!
I shall continue to call out their names
I shall not relent.


Scheme axxxbxx BbxxxcBx xxbbxx bxdd Baxx xba cx xxx
Poetic Form
Metre 11011101101010 111101 11101101100 111110101011111011000100 11110 1101111010100 101010011010100111 1110 110 110100111001 1111101001011100101 110101001 101000010 1110 11011 010010111 101001101011 1111110111101110 1101010 010111101 11111101011001010010 10110 10101111000100 01111111111 101010011011001010010101 1110 11011101001111100111 1111000111 11111100110011 01111011111 111100111110 111101110 1101111110 111111011110111 1111111001 1101011111 11101
Closest metre Iambic hexameter
Characters 1,806
Words 368
Sentences 22
Stanzas 8
Stanza Lengths 7, 8, 6, 4, 4, 3, 2, 3
Lines Amount 37
Letters per line (avg) 38
Words per line (avg) 9
Letters per stanza (avg) 177
Words per stanza (avg) 41

About this poem

This poem talks about the beautiful inception in Africa's history, followed by the Advent of colonialism, slavery and post colonialism.

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Written on August 24, 2022

Submitted by enencheelijahpeter057 on April 01, 2023

1:50 min read
0

Elijah Enenche Peter

I'm Elijah Enenche Peter, 24years old poet from Nigeria. I developed love for writing from a very tender age because it's the only way I could communicate my thought. I have written so many conscious poems. Aside writing, I also have passion for languages, I currently speak English, Portuguese, Idoma, Yoruba and Hausa. more…

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