GRANNY’S DIARY

She had been unhappy for quite a while and had been putting down her thoughts in a diary she’s had for years.

One day, she left her diary on the dining table and went to the porch. My curious mind couldn’t resist the temptation to know what she had been scribbling.

I checked her latest entry, the one she made on the 1st of the 10th month being her birthday. It read:

Mirror mirror on the wall,

I’ve got to be the fairest of them all.

Cause, with every stride I get the second gaze,

Sometimes I think I’m just the latest fashion craze,

With my ‘Y’ shaped necklace of twisted river beads,

I’m not surprised my saunter always turns several heads.

The guys kept promising I’ll no more be in need,

It turns out all they were after was just to fill their greed.

Another year has turned and as l look to my clock,

I know the time has come that I need more than just good luck.

It’s been a while since I walked away from nannies,

All those who wanted me just for my goodies.

Now I see my younger ones do far more than I do,

I watch in dismay because I know I’m capable too.

I know success is not how I measure with their deeds,

It’s how much I’ve done against how much I could have achieved.

I sense greatness in me the world is yet to see,

But how can all this be if I don’t even know me?

I’m not the weeping lady with just a jar of oil,

Because on the surface and beneath, I’ve got such great spoil.

The masters didn’t see it and it’s sad to say,

Some of the keepers also misused it and that’s why I’m like this today.

My neighbors get to see and use the sun all through the day,

Sometimes I have to do this my own unique way.

But like a brand new product, I feel life anew,

I’m the brand to rebrand; to rebrand me, rebrand you.

They call me many names but that’s okay,

I remain just who I am no matter what they say.

They label me because they think I’m just another nigger,

But I’m the mother can’t you see, turn the map, I’m the trigger.

See, I know just what they say about a fool at forty,

Of course I should know since I’m ten from sixty.

Please don’t join these folks in this name calling game,

Because every name I bear, you surely bear the same.

Won’t you please arise, o noble compatriot?

It’s me your nation calling, I’ll be glad if you’ll obey

Great lofty heights await, there’s greatness in what I see

Won’t you to be the good you, so I can be the great me?

This is my Jubilee cry, I’m out of all known wrongs

Blow the horn, sound the alarm, ‘cause I’m out of the storm

I believe in me, do you believe in me?

‘cause in reality you are the me they see.

I can’t be me if you won’t be you

So please arise and shine ‘cause everything depends on you.

I closed the diary and Granny walked in, holding a newspaper in her hand that described her birthday party. She looked with heavy eyes at me and said “did you know that the pilot hears two sonic booms as he breaks the sound barrier and enters into a realm of peace?” I was still pondering the relevance and significance of this question when she said “you read my diary didn’t you?” I answered with another question “who were you talking to”. She reached for her seat and said “go look in the mirror on the wall”.

- 'Bayor.

10:10:10

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