Angel: 17th December 2019

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In our last class before Christmas, we used a banana leaf Christmas angel as a writing prompt, and the students were tasked to write about angels. There was some resistance to the theme, perhaps a seasonal overload of angels, but we pushed through. 
The class wrote beautifully without any tropes or sentimentality. TM wrote a piece of heartfelt and intimate prose. When she read it out loud, the group heard the germs of a song. Our talented Music Teacher Eric quickly began to arrange the words to music. By the end of the morning, we were all singing the first verse and chorus of the freshly composed song, My Angel.
LMS was particularly taken with the theme and wrote this nuanced poem (below) about her thoughts and ambivalence about angels.

My Angel
By L.M.S.

I stood upon the hills wondering
what the world had in store for me.
I saw an angel.
It smiled at me 
but I refused to smile back.

I asked myself, Is this angel from the light 
or from darkness?
No one gave me the answer
yet I craved for it.

That angel was beautiful but
the world has taught me that beauty
lies inside;
outside beauty fades.

My angel waited for me
to come to my senses and realise
it came from the light.
But I doubted and fell out of control.

Then I told my Angel that if you are from the light
stay by my side
but if you are from the dark
leave me alone.

My Angel never moved.
It stayed by my side and in a soft and humble voice it said:
‘I am from the light.’
I knew it was true
and our relationship started.

Creative writing class from Langata Women's Prison, Kenya



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