Gae

By Pearl Mokgatlhane

Nobody lives there now, but it’s there that my heart always takes me.
The floors used to gleam with polish.
The yard neatly swept by my late grandmother.
The modest vegetable garden stood proudly season after season of provision.
A fire always burnt from morning to night, a tea-set always ready to welcome the parched visitor
that may come along.
I have travelled and stayed in five-star hotels, none quite compare.
There is a crack on one of the windows, an aftermath of kiddie’s marble thrown.
No one confessed to the window crime, and true as day we were all spanked for mischief.
The red paint of the roof trusses is slightly chipped.
All around the yard, the evergreen hedge bush keeps the small stock at bay.
I know all my neighbours; they have shared with us a cup of sugar when days were bleak.
Meal times are the hallmark of our home, we pray over every single serving,
even its leftovers from the previous day.
Many hands shared a plate and somehow each belly plentifully fed.
These are the few things that make me nostalgic about home, a modest building that outranks
concierge services.

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Pearl Mokgatlhane is an avid reader and a writer born in Botswana.  She has no professional training as a writer, but aspires to be a well published writer.  Her favourite misquoted quote reads “Never trust anyone with no books in their home nor coffee.” She has published: 

• A short story titled “Fortitude” in the anthology The Different Shades of a Feminine Mind
• The poems “Armour” and  “Shame has a Price” in Silent No More (literary collection documenting Gender Based Violence, Sexism and Empowerment in Botswana)
• A short story titled “In My Name Lies The Answers”, Writers Space Africa (April 2021)
• The poems “Once Upon A Time” and “Fear Trust Pain” in the Sand in My Shoes Anthology
• A poem titled “ Ctl+Alt+Delete”, @inkedpagespoetryprompts
• A poem titled “Feelings”, @poeticreveries_
• The poems “This Isn’t My Childhood” and “Khutsafalo” in the Petlwana Journal of Creative Literature and Arts 

Instagram: from_where_i_am_standing1

Instagram hashtag: #fwias