Poetry Corner: Highly Infected Virgin-H. I. V. (3)

By Kwesi BISSUE

It was their moment

The moment they had waited patiently for

For Virgin Vera and Virgin Victor

It was a long patient wait

Their joy knew no measure

As friends and family

Showered gifts of flowery…praise

For the two were living cases

Of how to marry chaste

Of how to wait until taken

Until broken by the one who was given

 

So her hymen was broken

Broken by the one who had her taken

On the first night, on the honeymoon

When the two freshers acted so green

A virginity confirmed by bloody stains

On a sheet of white satin

 

The union took off to a blissful start

Becoming the envy of many a searching heart

One year on, a child was born

To make the union a threesome

Three years on, another was added on

To make them a foursome

 

At the age when the first child turned four

His health turned poor

Same as Virgin Vera and Virgin Victor

 

Several tests revealed various ailments

Ailments unveiled at various stages of development

All perplexing and defiant

 

From malaria to diarrhoea

From anemia to pneumonia

Also tuberculosis

 

Various treatments in variable doses

Failed to bury bacterial germs

It only took an escalated diagnosis

To unearth a hidden virus

…a Human Immunodeficiency Virus

 

When the news was broken

Two hearts were broken

Two hearts of humble virgin beginnings

Two hearts were terribly shaken

 

How daring could a virus be?

Where did a virus pass to rudely intervene

Intervene in a virgin enclave

Then Virgin Vera and Virgin Victor subjected to a clinical test

Only to be placed in the positive box of the virus

 

First it was a state of denial and fear

“How could we believe in this viral smear?

How could we this fear bear?”

 

Disbelief turned to shock

Grief soon replaced shock

But the grief was so brief

For Virgin Vera had a confession to brief

Not a brief confession to end in a second’s split

It was a confession to name a culprit

 

II

It happened in her university days

When constraints of funds were part of her student ways

Daily constraints she confronted in diverse ways

But which still grew wings to stare her in the face

 

In the face of her avowed resolve

A resolve to have the tag of a graduate

…tagged around her

She trudged through, nonetheless

One conversation with a hall mate

And a following after that fellow to enter a strange gate

Was all it took to straighten up her dire straits

 

It was a weekend party

A coitus party

A coitus party of another kind

It was done from behind

In the butt

Done to make a fast buck

It was for members only

Tucked away from prying eyes

Blocked from decent eyes

 

She went along as they went

They went till the semesters were complete

Till she graduated as an upper class donor

As a Highly Infected Virgin

…without knowing i

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