AFTER SHE SLEPT
By Chidimma Placid Nwaka
Life is unfair, they say. Yet I believe it can be fair sometimes, only that our desires often destroy us. I know a man who sharpens knives in the main market near my home. He loved spending his little earnings on alcohol every day and would end up tipsy, drunk, and tattered. Some people sneer at him, while others look at him with pity and sigh. I often wondered why he was in that state until my mother told me everything.v
He used to be the happiest man in the market, never drunk or tattered, and never spent his savings unwisely. He had a wife and four children, but unfortunately, his wife went to sleep, and who knows when she will awaken. Left alone with the four children and overwhelmed by sorrow, he turned to drinking. The more he drank, the deeper his addiction grew. Soon, he lost his place in the market. He would often collapse by the roadside, and his sons would come to carry him home.
He became a drunkard after she slept and was finally given her last honor on earth.
Drinking changes nothing. It only makes one more depressed and desolate. Even if you fall asleep while drunk, your troubles will still be waiting when you awaken.
It is better not to grieve the sleepers for too long so that their rest may not be troubled.
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