Overrated Life Abroad: In Praise of Mother Denkyira

*By Akadu Ntiriwa Mensema, Ph. D.

**Dedicated to the iconic, heroic, and stoic people of Denkyira

My Mother Denkyira

Ah! I, your daughter

A child of Asase Yaa

Sojourning overseas

Their White glory

Overrated life abroad

Land of the living-dead

Ah! White winter

Where snow is gold

Where black is a text

My blackness is a text

Textbook read by all

With negative renderings

Where left- hand is king

Where dogs are lovers

Mother, Denkyira

I yearn for you

Home in your nest

Your palatial nest

Your pristine nest

In the Ofin groove

Mother, I, your daughter

With ancient roots

Eternal tree of humanity

From Bono and Abankeseso

The child of Denkyira

Of Nana Ohemmea Ayikera

Of Nana Mumunumfi

Of Nana Werempe Ampem

Of Nana Boa Amposem

Of Nana Ntim Gyakari

Feyiase we survived it

In the arms of mighty Ofin

Mother, I, your daughter

Of evergreen Denkyira

My Ofin artery

My proud roots

Trapped in a vortex

In a chilling vortex

Of a crucible of lost hope

In their perennial winter

Ah! Mother Denkyira

I invoke your soothing sun

Soothing sun of Denkyira

For your cuddling warmth

Your warmth lures me back

Mother your soothing warmth

Lures me back to eternal Denkyira

Mother, I am the lone sufferer

In the harshness of winter

Mother, I am home-bound

Ah! To blossom again

Ah! To rejuvenate on the Ofin

In the forest along the Ofin

Mother, snow devoured me

Like savannah termites

It devoured my tap roots

I survived it all survived

Like Denkyira Odum tree

I am coming home to rejuvenate

I am coming home to replenish

Mother, they reloaded Maxim guns

They reloaded to neo/colonize me

But I am coming home

Home to wear my crown

Wear my ancestral crown

The crown of Mumunumfi

The crown of Boa Amposem

Mother, my lungs are polluted

Full of their acidic pollutants

Full of their poisonous air

Mother, I am coming home

Home to breathe your purity

Mother, I am buried

Buried in their democracy

Their tyranny of democracy

Their cacophonous democracy

I am coming home to Ofin

Home for Akan ontology

Mother, I have danced

Danced with a sad autumn

Autumn of death squads

Mother I am coming home

Mother, your graceful harmattan

Harmattan will lull me back to life

Mother, they gave me a Visa

Gave me a Withering Visa

They gave withering citizenship

Mother I am coming home

Home to receive your Birthright

Ah, for my Eternal Birthright

Mother, your winds of purity

Purity from the Ofin hills

Oh, will forever caress me

Caress me in your arms

Mother, I will drink from Ofin

Drink from Ofin-wells of purity

Welling wells of wellness

Ah! The Ofin wells of purity

Mother, I will visit the hills

The hills of my childhood

The hills of lasting innocence

Where the birds chirp hope

Mother, Denkyira

I am coming home

I will grow whole again

I, your daughter

I will sprout again

I will sprout whole

Mother, whole forever

*Akadu N. Mensema, Ph. D., is a nationalist Denkyira beauty. She is a trained

oral historian cum sociologist and Professor in the USA. She lives in

Pennsylvania with her great mentor and teaches Africa-area studies at a college

in Maryland. In her pastime, she writes what critics have called “populist

hyperbolic, satirical” poetry. She can be reached at akadumensema@yahoo.com