My thoughts when I first read this poem by Juliet Kego (pictured above) was this is absolutely beautiful! The Home Maker by Juliet Kego is so touching and yet so strong. The poem, which Juliet calls Floetry, gives a voice to the woman at home toiling to make her home and feeling unsatisfied and underappreciated. The woman in the poem knows when she's had all she can carry, and what she needs to do in order to find herself. Enjoy the poem below...
The Home-Maker
We found each other
In the fields of freedom
Me, with dreams to heal the world
You, daring to dominate the world
And we built a home and created a haven
Till I forgot to dream, and forgot my path
And looked to you for direction
But you were not here,
You were chasing your dreams
in the fields of freedom
And I find myself lost in life, disappearing…
I lost you swimming seven seas of sorrow,
where streams of stagnant dreams drown
and suffocate, already weighed down hearts.
I lost you in the soundless,
wandering winds of wasted whispers,
where words that should be said out loud,
Become words that are buried and swallowed whole
Words like:
‘I love you, I am sorry, I need you, I hear you.
I see you tired and I appreciate you.
YOU, my love as you are now.’
All engulfed by the gulf of muted conversations…
I lost you in the eyes that pretended to look,
refusing to see the signs of surrender.
The eyes that silently cry out:
‘I am tired’, ‘I give up’, ‘I give in’, ‘Let me go’
I lost you, reaching for the hands that you let go;
missing your daily hugs over my now rounded frame
Those arms, gone too fast, gone too soon,
leaving me here, all alone, pregnant with our child
I lost you and in my loss, I found myself;
I re-remembered my dreams of me, for me
The me that I’d forgotten was ever there
The me that I killed, slowly and gently,
as I made room for you; a home for us.
I lost you to the 9-5 fields of freedom
where workers find meaning
but where I never found myself
couldn’t you see, my love
that the cubicles choked my dreams?
I stopped dreaming to let you be and soar
But you, you refused to break the rules
Or shift the roles
and allow the airflow, enough for two.
I lost you as I took in the air within,
making room for little, blooming me,
to help this bird grow wings and fly
finding a new home, a nest for me.
And when you find you,
Come, come, quickly my love
and look for me
But know that I will not be here
(lost in laundry, cooking, gardening, babysitting..),
watching, waiting, longing for you.
I’ll be out there in the fields of freedom
Drinking in all of life, and dancing to my song
Yes, in the Fields of Freedom;
Losing You, Finding Me…
(c) Juliet ‘Kego Ume-Onyido (All rights reserved).
Read more of Juliet Kego's floetry on her blog...
This is so lovely.
ReplyDeleteOften the foundation is a mirage. For in the impulsive passion of youth, couples have opposing dreams- one to heal, one to dominate and if so be it- hurt the world. But then is love not meant to be passionate? Is passion not meant to be impulsive?
ReplyDeleteLittle wonder the well known muted conversation. Auto destructive silence. Exaggerated by natural longings, longings one has a right to – before God and man. Longing that is the very cement of the union. Longings once fully satiated, even prompted. Longings avowed to last forever…
Yet one remains free. Freedom to be found in the silence of the truth. The truth to be found in the chasm between the dream and reality. For that chasm is not a void. It is naked. Stark naked, where all pretences are shed. In that truth, in itself a ray of the eternal Truth, one blossoms. One begins to live. To thrive. There, in that freedom found in the truth, one dances with the gods, and I dare say, with God.
Jul, thanks so much for this floetry. I don’t know why it reminds me so much of Zainab’s ‘Still born’. Maybe because it so much of a woman.
Daalu rinne!
Bursting with depth, heartfelt message of self -discovery. My sister poet, I celebrate you!
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