_'TESTIMONY OF DELIVERANCE'

I told a million answers to their biting questions to silence them.

The mists grew heavy.  When I stretched my arm out I could not see past my hand, but it did not matter.  When I closed my eyes my feet moved along with the rhythm of the mountain and its soils. Faster and faster I could almost feel myself fly.


A foreigner stopped me on my rise toward the mountaintop.  He had one eye and loose skin that folded around his body like paper cloth.  Laid before him was a set of coloured tablets and sticks.  "Stay for a game," he said to me.  "After you win your game with me I'll let you go on your way."


When he placed his hand upon me he let out a great cry and then vanished into the earth.


Without hesitance I
lifted my skirt legs, began to dance in father's leather bottomed shoes.  The soles breezed across the ground, cutting the mist with rhythmic motions.  I then turned the ring on my finger and watched my father rise, soil shedding from his skin.  His shaved face and clean hands stood against the paling crowd. This impressed the people who stood before me, as did the fact that my tongue did not bleed from the needle it held.

"My daughter!" Mother cried out to me, tears of gratitude streaming from her eyes. ''You are home at last''.


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Story and Artwork by Rev.Bola <IBEJI>
(19.12.11 -ARR)



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