Sleep Without Wake (written by A. A. Amoako)
“Mothers fingers soothed my skin”
The night kept mother awake
When baby was sour
And that was me
You vanished into the morning mist of April’s last days 1998
Precisely how and when is
Locked up in your wooden box
Thus severing the Korle Bu cord between You and me
Premier son of a premier daughter
Abena’s pioneer child Kwabena
You put me through my infant paces
On Gold Coast’s Ga shikpo
Taa taa Tuu tuu, in your maternal steps
Maame Tutuwaa, condolences
You were brought into view again
After a long chilling month, your face frozen
Into a grim visage
Till you thawed somewhat
Into your familiar self but
Still inert immobile like a sculptured bride
To the mourners wailful gaze
Your last Odumase words to me
Only a week before were
“Go in peace, it looks like rain”
Words as auspicious, puzzling, portentous looking back
COMENTARY
leaning of words used in the poem
Sour: bitter, disagreeable, protesting
You vanished: disappeared, missing: gone
Precisely: exactly, accurately,
severing: separating, cutting, ending
cord: string twine, cable, rope, link
Premier: foremost, leading, (firstborn)
Pioneer: early, the forerunner
Infant paces: child steps or speed
Maternal steps: mother walking
Condolences: funeral sympathies, empathies
Chilling: freezing, frightening, terrifying, distressing
Grim: unattractive, ugly, serious
Visage: appearance, form, facial expression
Thawed: melted, defrosted, softened
Inert: slow, inactive
Immobile: immovable, still, motionless
Wailful gaze: mournful gaze, sad expression,
Auspicious: promising, favorable, positive,
Puzzling: bewildering, confusing, perplexing
Issues the poem raises
Death is sudden and unpredictable; it deprives parents of their children and children of their parents. Family relatives suffer the consequences of death.
Theme: A tribute by a son to his mother at her death, showing the bond between mother and son.
Description: Note how the narrator employs the use of special descriptive adjectives in the poem to make the expression more graphic: Kortebu Cord (line 10). “Premier son” (line 11). “Pioneer child” (line 12): Premier daughter (line 11) Odumase words (line 25). Other descriptive words include the use of possessive pronouns: Mother’s milk, Mother & fingers, Abendu s pia. neer child, Gold Coast Gu Shikpon. Mourners’ waiful gaze.
Title: When people sleep, they wake up again. Sleep Without Wake, therefore, means something more than normal sleep; it means death.
Form/Structure: The lines of the poem are uneven and there are no end-line rhymes,
Literary Devices
Personification: The night kept Mother awake (line 3) as “night” is given the human quality.
Euphemism:… Wooden box… (line 9) – used in place of coffin or casket (Euphemism is a word or expression used to talk about unpleasant or embarrassing subjects without mentioning the thing itself. Example: Sleep for “death”.
Alliteration: Taa taa, tuu tuu… /Maame Tutuaa. The literary term is created by the repetition of the same initial sounds of the consonant “T”, Notice the rhyming sounds. Also, the literary term Assonance is created in the sound Taa taa, tuu tuu…/Maame Tutuaa because of the same vowel sounds that appear close in the same line.
Onomatopoeia: The words Taa taa, tuu tuu… / Maame Tutuda contain sounds that are similar to the noises they describe. The line describes the sound as a child taking shaky steps learning to walk.
Simile:… immobile like a/Sculptured bride …” (lines 1 and 22) in which the “still, inert” (body) is compared to a Sculptured bride.
Commentary/Analysis
Line-by-line explanation The night kept Mother awake (line 3): Note the delicate use of the word “awake” in the title and line 3. The mother, now “asleep” without wake, used to be kept awake at night because the “baby was sour” (line 4) and needed to be fed breast milk and soothed (lines 1 and 2). Mother’s milk gave me suck: it was Mother who gave the suck, feeding the baby with breast milk.
Mother s fingers soothed my skin: Mother was kind-hearted, gentle, caring. The night kept Mother awake: “Night” is personified (giving human quality of being able to keep Mother awake).
Till you thawed somewhat (line 20): that is, when the hard, stiff, cold body removed from the mortuary was allowed to defrost (or the ice melt)… a long chilling month…: what is chilling (or very cold)? Certainly not the month, for we don’t have chilling months in the tropics. Rather, the poet is making an indirect reference to the cold receptacles of the morgue (mortuary) where the body was kept for a month. Into a grim Visage: describing the facial appearance of a lifeless body as being unattractive, ugly, sorrowful. .. Premier son of a Premier daughter (line 11): the narrator is the first son of his mother, who, in turn, was the first daughter of her mother. Odumase words… (line 25): the last conversation between the narrator and his mother took place at Odumase, possibly their hometown, where the son had gone to visit the mother.
Words as auspicious, puzzlingportentous (line 28); the narrator suspects that the mother was being prophetic when she said those parting words, “Go in peace…” (line 27). These three words: “auspicious”, “puzzling”, and “portentous” all point to something fateful or suspicious – like a warning or a bad omen that would happen.
Go in peace… It is the living that always bid the dead to “rest in peace”, but here, it is the one who would depart (the mother) who bid the living (the son) a peaceful departure. Mourners’ waiful gaze: The mourners look on with
grief-stricken (or sorrowful) appearance as they stare at the corpse: they are wailing and gazing at the same time. . Looking back (last line): on hindsight or in retrospect
(come to think about it). To the narrator, the death of his mother is like “vanishing into the morning mist” (line 6) – a figurative speech that shows that the mother was no more …. morning mist… lasts only for a brief moment; when the sun rises, it vanishes away. Life, therefore, is like a mist: one day we are alive, the next day we are not
“As for man, his days are like grass; he flourishes like a flower of the field; for the wind passes over it, and it is gone, and its place knows it no more” (Psalm 105: 15).
“Man is like a breath; his days are like a passing shadow” (Psalms 144:4).
The narrator knows the date his mother died – April’s last days, 1998 (line 7); but he does not know what caused his death: “Precisely how and when is / Locked up in your wooden box” (line 9) Wooden box refers to the casket that contains the mortal remains of her mother.
“Korlebu” (line 1 0) is the Teaching Hospital in Accra where the death must occurred and/or where the mortal re mains were kept in a morgue. At birth, the umbilical cord is sev ered (or cut) to separate baby and mother. But, here, the narrator refers to a “Korlebu Cord” rather than the “umbilical cord”. While his umbilical cord was cut when he was a baby, the “Korle bu Cord”, used metaphorically, was cut at death at Korlebu. But as a baby, he still had his mother, but now he has lost his mother to death, the cord is severed for good.
“Premier child K wabena” (line 11) refers to the narrator, known as K wabena (a Tuesday born among the Akans), was a first child, hence he’s premier. Among the Akans, the day of one’s birth becomes his first name until he is named traditionally. The first child would have responsibility to lead his siblings in organising a befitting funeral for the departed W mother.
Line 12 to 15 is a tribute by the narrator in memory of his fe mother. His mother was by his side as he took his first steps in walking: “You put me through my infant paces” (line 12) as his wobbling feet got used to “Gold Coast’s Ga Shikpon ” (line 13) – the land of the Gas in the Gold Coast, the former name of Ghana. As a mother teaches her child to walk, she would
accompany her lesson with the traditional song of “Taa taa tuu tuu” (line 14). It is like a lullaby-not to soothe a child to sleep but to encourage a child to walk. And those steps were rather maternal, which means “motherly” or “parental” to show how caring and protective the mother was as she guarded
her child to learn how to walk. Although it is the child learning to walk, the mother, just given birth, is herself picking up her steps alongside those of her child. (… in your maternal steps…) Such an intimacy
bounded mother and child together. Sometimes dead bodies are laid in state wearing their
wedding gowns like a bride! The gowns worn by brides on their wedding day are often not used again in that form until they (the former bride) are laid in state at death.
Discussion Questions
1. Mention two themes of this poem. 2. What happened in April’s last days, 1998?
3. Identify three lines that describe Mother as kind, gentle, and caring.
4. How long ago, and where, did Mother say, “Go in
peace, it looks like rain” (line 7)? 5. This phrase: Premier son of a Premier daughter
(line 11) refers to whom?
6. What is described in the poem as: Still, inert, immobile like a/Sculptured bride (lines 22 & 23).
7. Who was Maame Tutuaa (line 16)?
8. Name two literary terms found.in line 15: Taa taa, tuu tuu, in your maternal steps.
9. What literary device is found in the lines, Into your familiar self but./Still, inert, immobile like a… (note the word “like” that is used to make a comparison.
10. What is said to be… Words as auspicious, puzzling portentous (line 28)