ODE:"GUNLET OF AN AFRICAN SINGLE MUM" BY BISHOP SAHR ISAAC PETERSON

Thou hath a single mother  

Like lioness in savannah  

Hunting without her king  

Shouldering wilderness burdens  

Guarding tender cubs  

Yet never faltering  

Thou hath a single mother  

Roaming 'neath scorching suns  

Treading thorny distances  

Tracking scarce prey  

Maximizing every kill  

Defying barren seasons  

Thou hath a single mother  

Labeled lone by prides  

Hailed as provider  

Licking wounded cubs  

With calloused devotion  

Thy heart unbroken  

Thou hath a single mother  

Seeking sustenance daily  

Crossing dry rivers  

Climbing rocky ridges  

Watering hope with blood  

For cubs' survival  

Thou hath a single mother  

Facing jackal mockery  

"Wherefore roams the lion?"  

Answering through prowling  

Through midnight vigils  

With indomitable ferocity  

Thou hath a single mother  

Building dens alone  

Mending torn shelters  

Gathering meager morsels  

Counting every heartbeat  

Refusing to surrender  

Thou hath a single mother  

Sowing courage in grass  

Nourishing it with tears  

Teaching cubs to hunt  

Instilling wild resilience  

Through thy example  

Thou hath a single mother  

Scorning vulture whispers  

Forsaking empty territories  

Cherishing sacred duty  

Raising future monarchs  

Within humble thickets  

Thou hath a single mother  

Wounded yet stalking  

Hungry yet feeding  

Weary yet watching  

Pain doth mark paws  

Faith doth guide claws  

Thou hath a single mother  

Heaven doth witness roars  

Spirits record sacrifice  

Wilderness marketh journeys  

The world may forget  

But legacy prowls  

Thou hath a single mother  

Transmuting hunger to wisdom  

Turning peril to power  

Filling absent protection  

Carving new pathways  

With thine own claws  

Thou hath a single mother  

A lioness crowned thorn  

Sovereign of savannah  

Silent yet sovereign  

Bearing weighty wilderness  

Yet never capitulating  

© Bishop Sahr Isaac Peterson

Vice President at Poetry Reading Club, PRC, FBC, University of Sierra Leone  

English Consultant

This poem employs the lioness as an extended metaphor for the African single mother who labors without a male counterpart yet persists with sovereign dignity. The savannah becomes the home, the hunt becomes daily provision, and the cubs become children whose futures rest entirely upon her shoulders. Through Shakespearean diction like "doth," "thine," "wherefore," and now "Thou hath," the piece elevates domestic struggle into epic, almost biblical stature, insisting that this labor is not ordinary but heroic.

Crucially, the poem also speaks to the many societies where women are abandoned in marriage, denied rightful place in decision-making, and stripped of voice within the household and community. The line "Facing jackal mockery / 'Wherefore roams the lion?'" captures the public scrutiny, stigma, and blame that single mothers endure — questioned for a partner’s absence, yet expected to perform both paternal and maternal roles without support. "Labeled lone by prides" reflects how communal structures often ostracize rather than embrace, while "Forsaking empty territories" points to women who walk away from marriages that offer no safety, respect, or equity.

Yet the lioness does not beg the pride for permission. She "Transmuting hunger to wisdom" and "Turning peril to power." This is a deliberate reclamation of agency. In contexts where inheritance laws, land rights, and leadership tables still exclude women, the poem argues that single mothers are already governing — managing economies of a home, negotiating schools, clinics, markets, and futures. "Raising future monarchs / Within humble thickets" asserts that nation-building begins in these unseen dens.

The unequal rhyme mirrors the uneven burdens: financial, emotional, spiritual. Still, "Faith doth guide claws" and "legacy prowls" declare that the impact outlives the hardship. 

I, Bishop Sahr Isaac Peterson, was inspired by the story of Miss Grace Zainab Kamara's conversation as a single mother today, 13th July, 2026. And to all single mothers, I personally recognize your heroic adventures and sleepless efforts in tending your homes.