Dialogue with Love
By Nana Dadzie Ghansah
(Among the Yoruba of Nigeria, Oshun is the River Goddess of water, purity, fertility, love, and sensuality.)
Woman:
Oshun,
Dear Goddess of Love,
Look at me!
Look at the cuts and bruises,
That adorn my body and soul.
Look at my torn clothes and hair,
Testament to my ordeals.
Didn’t you say that,
Love is supposed to heal?
Why did the one I love hurt me?
Didn’t you say that,
Love builds and supports?
Why did he try to break me?
Oshun:
My daughter,
You beautiful daughter,
What you had was not love.
Then love sure does heal.
Love does support and build.
He sought to possess you,
Control your body and soul.
He knows not what love is,
Then your subservience
Became his only aim.
He as the master,
Dominating you!
Hurt and pain made you leave,
What was definitely not love.
Woman:
But he said he loved me,
He told me a thousand times,
I was his heaven and earth,
And all that was between.
I was the air he breathed,
His very nourishment.
He swept me off my feet,
Carried me into the clouds.
His look and touch made me melt,
Float away to places of ecstasy.
If that was not love,
My Goddess, what was it then?
Oshun:
My child,
My beautiful child,
The flame of any romance,
Soon burns out leaving embers,
That can keep you warm,
Or even used to restart the flame,
If kept aglow,
And not left to die out.
He who loves you will
Keep the embers aglow,
Not with words but through action.
Then love is not said but done,
He who truly loves you,
Will love you through his deeds.
His actions will heal your wounds,
Dry your tears and build you up.
Woman:
I may not be able,
To ever love again.
I may not be able,
To trust another again.
I may not be able,
To take that chance again.
He beat the courage out of me.
He knocked the belief far and away.
However if I ever find it in me,
I’ll look for deeds,
To tell me about love.
I’ll search for the one,
Who works hard to maintain,
The glow of the embers,
So as to keep,
My heart and soul warm,
Even as I do the same.
