Poetry: Nobody Woke Us Up!!

“Today my dowry will be paid,”
Zinny my sister sighed.
She’s the first out of three to marry,
This rite we must get right.

It stole her calm and washed her with fright.
We cleared our steads
And cleaned our heads.
This welcome shall spring no surprise.
My parents agreed to no price.

For our guests, we must give a test.
When they become friends, we’ll knead the rest.
So tonight the bees will buzz,
The fire in the sun will fuzz.

My sisters and I waited by the gate.
I hope they get here without delay.
After a while, we reached our prime.
Sleep drove us in with empty expectations.
Until we felt the saliva whittle.

The next day I asked my mum,
“Did the visitors come? ”
The gap in her story sold,
They came while our eyes wore folds.

Nobody woke us up?
No wine to fill our cups?
How did we miss the noise?
Seems our ears lost its drums.

They did not come for us,
They only brought us sores,
They came to bind Zinny’s hands.
And fill our eyes with sand

Vera