1.
She had to have a child.
It might forget her in her old age,
Or grow to be uncouth and untame,
Or leave her to die in an Old People's Cage,
Or bet her entire savings on a single game,
... But yet, children were the status symbol now,
No celebrity was seen without at least one in tow,
And so she had to have a child.
2.
She went to the Iroko Tree in the middle of the night.
It was a tree that housed an important spirit,
He could grant any wish, any request, any missive,
He had a good track record; his power knew no limit,
And most importantly, his clientele was impressive.
So though the wind blew,
And the force of the rain grew,
She went to the Iroko Tree in the middle of the night.
3.
His price was too high.
From the bole his verdant voice named a preposterous sum.
It was scripted you see. He must be unreasonable and she must then plead:
Please your Lordship, pity thy most servile of scum.
His heart would soften, the fee would lessen: perhaps a gold bead.
But her voice lacked the advised amount of grovelling fear
And in his wrath he asked for the child back when it was twenty and one year.
His price was too high.
4.
Yet, she promised to give him what he asked for.
After all the child might not live to one and twenty.
It might succumb to small pox or fever,
If it didn't, there would be time to move countries aplenty,
Time to scheme and outwit the chlid stealer.
It never occured to her that she might love the baby
Or long to see it as a grown up lady.
And so she promised to give him what he asked for.
5.
She picked up a mite on the road that night.
On her way home she heard a loud whine,
She followed the noise and a babe did she find
Wrapped in leaves and loam bound with twine.
I should leave it, she knew, not to such fate it bind
But a baby and Gucci are just the thing to be seen in
This fact is well known from the lowest to Brangeline.
And so she picked up the mite on the road that night.
6.
She hated her child.
She called the girl child Olurombi.
Olurombi was the opposite of what she expected.
This daughter of hers was upright and spoke morally,
Was never cool, never rebellious, never threw the parties she wanted
Never let her show how yummy she was for a mummy.
She waited with baited breath for the 21st birthday
With her daughter gone, she could be openly shallow and gay.
She hated her child you see.
7.
She stabbed Olurombi with glee in front of the Iroko tree.
On that ill fated 21st, she lured her daughter to the forest.
"It is a surprise", she said, "you'll never forget it",
But as Olurombi knelt, eyes closes, she lost her blood zest.
This child was too perfect for her to dare kill it.
But then Olurombi had to open her eyes and see the upheld knife,
And say, "Mother! Not my will but thine, I will die with no strife."
The sanctimonious pig, she thought.
And so she stabbed Olurombi with glee in front of the Iroko tree.
8.
The tree spirit thought he gave her a gift.
'Woman take back your child for I gave her not to you.'
Finders are keepers and you found her not I,
She is yours to do with whatever you wish to do,
So take her and leave me, I wish you good bye.'
And so Olurombi sat up, no more a broken toy
And the tears she wept, the spirit thought were from joy.
Because you see, the tree spirit thought he gave her a gift.
