Photo Credit: Vecteezy.com
Waiting for a Miracle
Again, the worms in our empty stomachs rise before us.
Their groans, louder than the cathedral bell. On days like this,
the tradition, as it should be, is to savor the aroma of chickens
obeying the spatula in boiling oil. but in my home, chickens are on
errand to where they are options at the fingers of someone
who doesn’t see them as a divine gift, like us. Jehovah Jireh,
let a lamb sneak out to us, we want to slaughter our appetite.
To spare you the simile, we need a chicken for Christmas.
Our hopes are higher than the steeple and we smear
our faces with joy, carrying hollow stomachs to hallow Christ.
Christ is the reason not the chicken the priest reminded us,
says someone cockerel crows chorus to his morning hymn.
The chief’s wife enters the cathedral spraying the aroma of fried goat,
laughter adorns her cheeks as she buries black nylon in the palms
of the altar boy—priest server. For the priest, she says & I swallow
a bite I imagined. My sister’s eyes travel to the priest’s kitchen
and she pleads we visit the priest. I say no. We run home hoping
a good Samaritan would drop a bowl of either rice or pounded yam
with fried meat spread on it. Is this not how to exercise faith?
I open the pot on the three stones, what a failed attempt at faith.
When you are ready, your garri is inside the cup, my mother says.
But we are not ready; we are waiting for a miracle. We sit at the doorstep
whimpering anger & hunger into hope, singing endless hymns to pass time.
It is past six, we are still waiting for a miracle. My sister blinks faith at the cup
on the table into sleep. My faith is building a boat to sail my request to God.
Who knows, maybe our faith is dead. But, Lord, let the corpses of our emptiness
drown in the overflow of your miracle. Our faith is getting weary. We are waiting, Lord.
Contributor’s Bio
Sarah Adeyemo, Swan IX, is a Nigerian poet, writer, spoken word artiste and communication expert. The debut author of The Shape of Silence. She is a fellow of the SprinNG Writing Fellowship. Her works have appeared and are forthcoming at The Muse Journal, The Weganda Review, Everscribe Magazine, The Shallow Tales Review, Northern Writers Forum Journal, Eboquills, Rinna Lit. Anthologies, and elsewhere. She is a member of The Swan Collective. You can reach out to her via sarahadeyemo50@gmail.com
