IN RESPONSE TO LI’S PROMPT “HIRAETH”
Reminiscing On My Childhood
A Poem On Longing And Belonging
Warm rays of sunlight kissed and blessed me with love and a life of modest want. My family, my home, my friends — interwoven fragments — recollections of a fortunate childhood sown in a land once christened Nigeria. Laced with an abundance of fun and delights, I grew and flourished on blissful euphoria. And though I suffered no need and thrived on a culture of colour and dance, I was never blind to the surrounding miseria.
“Oyibo pepe, Oyibo pepe, if you eat i pepe, you go yellow maw maw” a children’s song rendered to us Oyibos, meaning white, though I was brown — and urging us to eat pepper to darken our skin — a melodic obbligato sans sting. Beaming faces of the impoverished young, waving for my friendly attention — their delight and laughter at my timid reaction, were all facets of my early foundation.
I mastered the freedom of gliding the waves roaming beaches for magical shells. My dreams I spent in tropical trees where endlessly I happily dwelt. — all these passions are sadly aeons away, stark contrasts to a life now governed and ruled by a temperate time to which, with unease, I’m confined — hiraeth, my legacy, my reminder.
Savouring sweet tropical fruits and smiles, the sounds of nocturnal crickets and drums, the heat, the warmth and life’s endless joys — a patchwork of memories stitched together to safeguard my heart and to enamour and brighten those drab and dreary sunless days.
The challenge I took up was to write something reflecting the Welsh word, hiraeth [hiraɪ̯θ], which has no exact equivalent in English. It refers to a feeling of nostalgia, similar to homesickness, but somewhat more complex and similar in meaning to a favourite German word of mine, Sehnsucht (something like yearning/wistful longing)
As part of this challenge for Literary Impulse, I ask Agnes Louis, Trisha Traughber, Wild Flower, David Rudder, and LB to source their wonderful creativity and if the spark ignites, to write a few words reflecting my prompt, facet.
My thanks go to Somsubhra Banerjee for igniting my spark and Elisabeth Khan for her amazing challenge: Hiraeth
Editorial Note- This piece is a submission for our ongoing theme-based event as mentioned above.
The best of these will be selected on 25th September and featured on our website(https://www.literaryimpulse.com/). And also as an Amazon Book.