When the cassette tape played, I was seldom interested in the lyrics—how likely was a 6-year-old to care? Yet I could feel sorrow, compassion, and sadness in the singer’s voice. I imagined someone hurting her. Was she hit, betrayed, lonely? Her voice held a mystery I wanted to uncover, but she was miles away from me. Since I could not unravel the enigma, I let the thought go. As I grew older, my mother did not grow tired of playing the cassette tape. I could not hide from hearing it either, unless I could afford a roof over my head. One evening, during the holiday and with no homework to attend to, I had to ask her. ‘Mum, who’s this person always sad when they’re singing?’ ‘You mean all this time, you don’t know it’s Dolly Parton? And who told you she’s sad? When you truly express how you feel, it is not always a sad tale, my girl. Do you even know what this song playing is about?’ ‘Yes, ma. It’s her coat of many colours, just like the one Joseph had, right?’ ‘Eh en. Only hers was give...
UPON THE MOUNTAIN “What would happen if you do not make this jump?” She asked herself while standing on one of the highest points of the Olumo Rock. She got to that point with the company of other tourists chatting their lives away and taking memorable pictures of one another. However, the majority of the crowd took the road more travelled by; the stairs that looked newly built to help the young and old. Here, a lift(s) will be a bad idea knowing the nature of our electricity system. We call it kpa na kpa na! Being the daring type, she decided to take the route less followed; the inner rocks. She got past the shrine where the tour guard had explained they sacrificed animals to the gods who in turn protected tourists from any danger. Some rocks looked like humans turned into stones; they have been there for thousands of years. It was a marvel, all she wanted to do was to go further until she got to the highest point of the mountain. It would be one grand achiev...