3 Poems by Naa Dedei Botchwey

1. I don’t want to be that woman

She has a life, but none her own
She lives a wife, and yet alone
She has her wants, but none she gets
And her needs, has not one yet
She lives to please
The man with whom she sleeps
She wakes up cold
And weeps out the untold
It’s filled with lies
The bed where she lies
It’s an unholy matrimony.
She cleans and tidies
He sleeps and parties
They go miles and miles, the while he smiles
Her smiles fade as she lives his desires
She is dying inside
He’s breathing by her side
She can’t do this anymore
He doesn’t understand anymore
She starts to rise
He starts to bite
“What things as those never seen?
Oh heavens, she’s done a dreary deed.”
I don’t want to be that woman
She’s not her own, she’s her man’s woman.

2. Living is a difficult task

Living is a difficult task
This to mama once I ask
Then she frowning said in hush:
Life, baby, is but a husk
And all we humans are like ruck
Yet, what is beyond this living
Though we rightly unseeing
Are we supremely pursuing
And we pitiful unwitting
I tell you baby:
Living ain’t easy
Living ain’t easy
Living ain’t easy

3. Pommauchsowagan

Love people beyond their flaws
Trust people beyond their insecurities
Understand people beyond their errs
Accept people and all they are
That love is not for the faint-hearted
Is a lesson of this life

Our needs, our cravings
Our wants and vanities
Years and years of toil so dear
All at once come merging to score
That surety is not a sure thing
Is a lesson of this life

We never really lost a thing
Tide and market come and go
And all our dear beliefs- an Ignis Fatuus
That we fear deeper things
Reaching for truth and score
Is a lesson of this life

Naa Dedei Botchwey started writing poetry at age 15. What started as a quiet way to let out her emotions has now become a passionate expression of the things she believes in. She writes mostly as a reminder to self but hopes that it imparts whoever comes into contact with her work. She is based in Ghana where she works as a Communication Professional.