Sacrifice by Basheera Agyeman
It’s a wonder she finds road without walking stick.
Without end or fork in sight.
She whose left eye is almost shut from the hard knock of life.
She carries her burdens on her head and makes a tiny profit from them too.
Her feet are covered in dust despite the resiliency of the cocoa butter layered on her deep brown wrinkled skin.
The thick yellow spread could do nothing about the number of miles she has had to walk just in a day.
Every day.
And she is resigned and tired
But she is still walking because the alternative is lying down.
And being still. And really resigned.
And others will fall because of her fall. Or they would.
And that is the worst reality of all.
So she keeps walking. Marching through street and sand.
Queen Cocoa Butter ɛyɛ five cedis pɛh… (It is only five cedis)
About the Author
Basheera Agyeman is a Ghanaian-American Muslim student. She is a senior at Washington State University double majoring in Comparative Ethnic Studies and French. This past winter, Basheera was named WSU’s first Campus Civic Poet. In addition to performing spoken word and engaging in activism, Basheera is a student mentor for the African American Student Center as well as President of the National Pan-Hellenic Council, WSU chapter. After graduation she is looking forward tobecoming a writer, scholar, and an educator. She also hopes to continue engaging in movements against social injustice.