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O! Mellifluous River Mississippi
We; mothers prays you a petrichor waterfall
Don't be arrogant, stubborn, selfish like the Saul
It is us, mothers who grace your riverbed to end this long uncompromised gall
Our hands are soft, gentle, milk, tender not like the men who would draw you into a fierce-endless prowl
We, mothers danced the kitukitu dance to appease your anger to make the rain fall on us all
Who clears your riverbed
It is us mothers and not the men
They only fish you dry and leaves you badly for dead
Who prays you and offer you sacrifice
To entice your Bossom for your wisdom and advice
Who makes you relevant
Amidst the White's man technologies that threatens your beleaguered habitant
It is I, Mother Slessor that calls
Dance, dance , dance? Women of Okpropu Village
Mother river Mississippi is here because we appease her diligently
Let the fire in your Bossom quench her desire
We women are the god's delight
River Mississippi never kills her own
She too a mother, two death for her can't be condone
No Delta but divinity abreast her honest clone
Through you we ascertain value
For only we women could appease this rain
Our tenderness, leaves the world no choice but to retain.
This poem speaks about the relevance of women in their native society and beyond. In the first stanza, a festival is held and women are the only that can appease the gods of the rain. The second stanza talks about the argument between the importance of women and men in this contest...while the other stanzas appraises their importance and value once more.
