There are moments of darkness that occasionally occupy my mind,

It brings very sad memories and my thoughts go from play to rewind,

Takes me to that December day when dad left home and didn’t come back,

Half of the love we were used to having before, now we began to lack.

Mama who’s got little education had to find the means to make a living,

She ventured into the world of business, the art of buying and selling.

Two years later in September the unwelcome visitor, Death, came into our home,

 Took my twin brother and twenty days later, I marked our sixth birthday alone.

Time stood still when mama cried and lived in her room for one whole year,

Swallowed up in sorrow and with six kids, she asked God, “Where do I go from here?”

The struggles and hardships began with food, with school and with the will to live,

The causes and effects of poverty and around my life, they entwined like a weave.

Things got so bad that sometimes in the evening we had to make laughter our food,

We would crack jokes, did funny acts and then we went to sleep feeling good.

The times got harder and mama had to borrow money to keep our heads above water,

But people are cruel; they know how to drag you and your problems through the gutter.

 Even in our struggles, our hearts always had the sound of music and a lovely symphony,

Out of our mouths came forth a melody and we raised our voices in beautiful harmony.

Trapped in this weave, we went through those years and prayed for intervention Divine,

Then God showed up, He put on us His seal that said, “These children are Mine”.

His seal of brilliance made me a state junior female chess champ at the age of nine,

He told mama what Isaiah 54 verses 5 to 8 said, He promised everything will be fine.

Thirteen years after he left, Dad came back only to ask for forgiveness and apologize,

But looking at him, I saw only a little bit of remorse in his dimmed brown eyes.

Now an aunt to three nieces and a nephew, I want my siblings to also be the same,

Waiting for the not-so-perfect but right man that will love and want me to bear his name.

My past has made me who I am, a God lover, singer, comedienne among other things,

New chapters I’ll write in my autobiography as I live the future no matter what it brings.