Ten females sit in class
Listening to the teacher teach
I am one of them
A few girls in a class of forty
Mama stays at home
A baby wrapped on her back
Dirty dishes, dirty laundry and dirty house
All awaiting her attention
She stares through the window
As we make our way to school
Papa is nowhere to be found
Never noticing mama’s hard work
I drop my kids off at school
My daughter tells me
‘There are thirty girls to fifty boys in class
The teacher says the girls are smarter
Than the boys’
I raise an eyebrow,
Could this indeed be true?
I board a bus to work
I am a receptionist cum secretary
When I close by twelve,
I will have to attend to my duties
As a wife and mother
It is not easy
But at least I have more independence
Than my dearest mama
My daughter visited me today
Riding her brand new car
She is an accomplished accountant
I am so proud of her
She is young and too busy
Having no time for relationships
Even if she were married
She claims the house help
Would inevitably care for the kids
She works from 7 to 7
Leaving little time for family
She is a voice to be reckoned with
An icon in her generation
I look at her in reminiscence
As I compare
Mama, myself and now my daughter
The past, my present, and her future
Yesterday, today and tomorrow
A time graph, in my country Nigeria
Debra Ayis
Also from the same Author: ULULATION