Accra Too Bitter

By Arnold Adrian

Noon day‘s sun was his foe.

The heat made him bleed sweat from his pores.

He pushed through the crowded street

With a sack of vegetables on his back

” Agoo oo! Agoo¹ oo!! ” he screamed.

As he made his way through the crowd.

The breeze began to change,

Night was neigh.

As he walked slowly to his den,

His steps were heavy with

Worry and some other emotion he had no name for.

A cardboard, some silk cloth and car tyres for pillow,

This was home.

He wrapped himself with the silk fabric,

But it didn’t really help.

So he closed his eyes to pray,

An old habit his parents had taught him.

But he remembered,

It was too cold outside, for angels to fly.

In the darkness of midnight,

He woke up again

Mosquitoes would not permit him to sleep.

There, his eyes caught a glimpse of escape,

A white piece of chalk.

He picked it up

And wrote all his pain

” Accra too bitter”

Glossary

Agoo is a West African word from Ghana that means “to pay attention, or listen.” It is a call for attention.