Before Dinner Poem by Kingsley Egbukole

The pestle beat the mortar repeatedly
5-6pm before dinner
My little sister in the mud house
Getting the pepper ready for mama
It is a routine for dinner

I bury myself in the book
In quest of knowledge
For a better tomorrow
Mama's voice scolding and correcting the girls
Daily groomed for marriage

Papa, home from the farm
Sat at the frontage this dry evening
Reclining in his "Agada"
Enjoying his pipe
And waiting to enjoy his dinner

No mothers and girls outside
Only fathers and their boys
The girls voices in the porter's wheel
And the little boys around papa play

Tomorrow is another
Pestle and mortar will clash
The girls groomed further
Fathers relaxing with their boys
While I burrow deeper in my study
Hour before dinner

(Wednesday 27th August,1997)