What It Means When a Man Falls from the Sky

by Lesley Nneka Arimah

And he should chastise the girl, he knows that, but she is his brightest ember and he would not have her dimmed.

This is the first time the girl becomes aware that the world requires something other than what she is.

Before she grows cautious under the mothering of a woman who loves but cannot comprehend her.

Before she quiets in a country that rewards her brand of boldness, in her black of body, with an incredulous fascination that makes her put it away.

Some people find it easy to be good when the going is good but lack the fortitude for hardship.

There was only so much a mother could ask a daughter to bear before that bond became bondage.

“They come here with no country of their own and try to take over everything and don’t contribute anything,”

Girls with fire in their bellies will be forced to drink from a well of correction till the flames die out.