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 [email protected]