HINUVI ONAFIMA | The Crocodile Prize

The old country road
When I asked my old mama
She could not remember
How many times
She had walked through.

Down the road,
I will not forget
The old sibuta*
Where hanging like a bat
I would slumber peacefully in
And with the cold mountain wind
Like other branches
I would sway back and forth.

And the old road
That leads to mama’s door
Every afternoon, from the field,
She would follow home
With the old sibuta
Hanging against her back.

If only I could pause now,
How it was then,
I shall remember…
The old sibuta*

* Sibuta – big hand woven bilum (bag) used for carrying large quantities of food. It is also used to ferry babies

Hinuvi Onafimo (30) was born in Goroka and now lives in Port Moresby.  He is a graphic artist who likes writing in his free time