Still in her teenage years
Celestine suddenly grew from a child to a mother
Still in her teens
She gave birth to her first child at sixteen
To prove she was no more a child
‘My baby,’ she called her
A proud mother not to brother
Now that Celestine was a mother just like her mother
Her peers had a question for her
“Here’s your father
Where’s your baby’s father?”
She’s my baby, no questions further
Celestine soon moved into a refresh mode
Thanks to her parents whose concerning mood
Moved them to put her into an apprenticeship
An apprenticeship of hair braiding and hair perming
Also of hair drying and hair curling
Of those to need a weave-on and a wig-on
Also of those wanting to have a manicure and a pedicure
To bring her back to a sane growing mode
But little did they know that Celestine would take a step back
…into a troubling mode
Celestine served all customers with compassion
Even friends and partners and spouses of customers
Especially those needing special attention
Especially those needing holding and touching and caressing and kissing
…with passion
She received the best gifts from her customers with hands full of appreciation
She promised to give of her best with open arms
…whether it was a call from within or a call from without
A promise she kept
…whether it was a call for her or a call from her
Her apprenticeship by-and-by trailed a pale second to her relationships
Celestine got well tuned up to this routine
She knew when to tell a lie to hide a truth
To fake a truth for a lie to tell the truth
But the truth was that she began to feel unwell
This truth she knew so well
One visit to the hospital was all it took to spill the beans
…she was highly infected with a virus
And she believed it so well
For she had been so unwell
Celestine hid it so well
Whom could she tell?
To whom could the beans be spilled?
…for a doom to spell
Another visit to the hospital dimmed her fears
For an anti-retroviral to lower a viral load was administered
It was loaded intermittently into her blood stream
To slow down a streaming progression to become a dreaded patient
While Celestine hoped patiently for a virus to offload
A flurry of marriage offers waited for her to uphold
How could she be so inconsiderate to say aye?
So unkind to infect innocent guys
So she closed her ears and eyes
To the pouring proposals from far and wide
She would prefer a perpetual spinster to remain
An insensitive infector to refrain
Than to couple with an unsuspecting son of man
However, one tempting offer caught her off guard
It was one suggested and sanctioned by her parents
As she lowered her guard to welcome this one
Her parents were beside themselves with ecstatic joy
“Now we count among in-laws
Now we can dream to hold legit grand girls and boys
…in our arms”
Celestine’s groom of the future
Was not one to toy with a future
So he opted for tests of all sorts and nature
To ascertain his bride’s future with a groom
To prove his own readiness to feature as a groomed groom
There was a day selected for the test
A test to put all fears to rest
There was a groom ready for the test
But Celestine was not ready to awaken her fears from rest
She put all matters to rest
She wound a rope tight around her neck
And left the rest of her body to hang
Then she hanged a written text on a door knob
“I am a hive of a Highly Infectious Venom”