By Kwaku Arthur
Dear Agora,
I say namaste
To your irreplaceable scenery
To the welcoming taste of tea
To chacha-ji and Pana-ji
And terraces as far as my eyes can see
To the ever-so majestic mountains
Scraping the sky
An extension from where I currently lie
To the power which links your people to the lands
With whom we do not simply give but share helping hands
For in giving, one truly receives
Not something we can do without
But something we feel within
You have taught me that one does not simply climb up to you
Climb
No
Not something its speaker has such little realization of utterance
Rather
One ascends
For in ascending one transcends the domesticated lives we think of as complex
O what little insight I had on the
Complexity of life ’til I met the
Agora woman
With work in abundance and
Children to look after
She keeps these in balance without
A hint of anger.
Little by little you have shown me
their strength
Little by little you have shown me
my own strength
Physically, mentally and, most importantly, the strength of my digestive system
I sit here with a grin, thinking, “is the expiry date really best before or best after?”
Questions I might never figure out
I sit here questioning if I’ll ever be
the same
After hearing these children shouting
my name
As I return to where I came
Agora
Everyone should get the opportunity to experience you
For one can read this and think
Nothing of you
But for those who see you as you are
Think the world of you and may
Never stop
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