Rasheedat Anase Muhammad: Origin of a name

Nervous and scared
I tremble in dismay.
Frightened and excited
When I discovered the origin of my name.

I had thought fiction is of the unknown
But never realize someone's truth aches
In my imagination- the mundane.

For millennia I have grieved with a friend
Over the loss of a child-eternal.
But suddenly get teleported on
A vehicle of dreams and fantasy
A backpack full of fairies I carried;
A wailing child I heard.

Africa is the origin
A culture submerged in energy
And elements. 
When the soil of this place tell my story
The air exhales its lessons-I catch.

Whenever the seas, lakes, rivers and oceans
Gather; a communal feast looms.
A people whose history holds the pillars of existence
...origin of ANEBIRA!

Since a bird became a god
Since divinity believe in reincarnation
Since the cowrie walks the talk of divination
Long foreseen, I discovered the origin of my name.

Our metaphors pluck for themselves, this world.

Its elements... Sea, water, salt, cowrie, bird, Kolanut 
And palm oil: naming can be grief and exalting
Godhood and mythology became the bedrock
Of the origin of my name.

The science of tradition, a fragile one
On which all long history takes a rest.

Birth and death part of existence
This solitary hybridity is the linear force
That forms my survival.
Me, The Afro lady!
My lineage is royalty and I was named
ANASE- Manifestations.

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_{Rasheedat Muhammad is a student of literature in a government owned university in Nigeria. She is a 34 year old mum of 5 kids. She is passionate about poetry that reflects Africa’s cultural heritage. She also has unpublished short stories dwelling on diverse themes: insecurity, greed.}