Bride price

By Jack Lahui

Three hundred and sixty-five pounds A couple of hundred and sixty or so Weeks of killing labour That’s almost five years round And that was the sum I saved up Together with five score shiny armshells Father stored away for me Not including the rest Brought in by all my relatives To add to the worth of my bride According to our customs.

The armshells Tied and dangling from strings Along the thirty-foot horizontal poles Their coloured embroidery below Flapping and dancing in the wind Like the wagging of the tails Of the two pigs Limbs tied, kicking and swinging On the two five-foot rods Carried by the four young hunters.

Also: Fifty-two bags of rice for the price Fourteen or more bags of sugar Not forgetting the seven bags of flour Stacked and piled in rows Near the twenty-four bunches of bananas And my relatives brought in more.

That was how much we gathered With songs, dancing and laughter According to our Motuan customs— / could afford no more Nor could I afford any less