This poem was inspired by Chinua Achebe's novel 'Things Fall Apart' <br /> <br /> <br />Let me grieve my father's death. <br /> <br />I should have been a man, <br />That is what he always wanted; <br />For woman cannot be the lords of the clan. <br /> <br />Then I would have been there at his side, <br />To fight the noble fight. <br />Noble men are no more, <br />They have all but melted into the night. <br /> <br />My father was one of them, <br />Now he is dead; as is this clan. <br />You say he killed himself, <br />At least my father died a man. <br /> <br />He loved this place, <br />But his people let him down. <br />Abandoning their war-like state, <br />And now they fail to cut him down. <br /> <br />'They are all cowards', <br />He would have said. <br />That is why he lay here, <br />Cold and Dead! <br /> <br />Sitll, I am a woman, <br />And that is all I could be. <br />So give my husband back his things, <br />I shall now marry my father's memory. <br /> <br />My mind is made up, <br />Bring me his mask and skirt of raffia; <br />Let me be the last man to lead Umuofia.<br /><br />Nkululeko Mdudu<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/aaaa-ezinma-doughter-of-okonkwo/
