amma birago dowry of a widow 

an egyptian woman of zeitoun and maadi 

 
 
dowry of 
a widow  
 
an egyptian woman 
of zeitoun and maadi 
 
 

Then Jacob kissed Rachel, and he wept aloud. amma birago 

Genesis 29:11 
 

1 
 

amma birago dowry of a widow 

an egyptian woman of zeitoun and maadi 

At the Ambassador Hotel in November of sixty one, the queen enamoured dances with your 

husband and from Christianborg to Zion and back the quivering of the air strikes chords 

mouthwatering and skin deep. Ivory tower and citadel like a fortress, hers was like yours, regal 

brow and hair strong yarns blinking lights and tumbling down with ease in curls of orchestrated 

flowery tendrils and rivulets, Atlantic archive and ocean waves - no hot coal nor gaslight fine iron 

comb in sight or powder puff dabbed in floral rose talcum stroke and or dash across the cheeks - 

you like her are pale enough for your colleague Bouvier and White House. 

While she in the arms and the lead of the Duke of Edinburgh, staff underling like Arden-Clarke on 

the side, at her elbow the delicate hand engloved, the whole world englobed in white citadel 

mounds, her sights looking to the darkly tropical nights, sparkly ocean and this place like 

Casablanca in the sun in tropical Africa, the super greens and policed walls, peacocks, 

bougainvillae and heliconia interior and on guard. 

Osagyefo brought here - to these parts and to his bed - at Independence and New Year's Eve - a 

young woman from Egypt. ... She turned our heads and not exactly in a good way. 

The young Egyptian woman pales in comparison - a far cry from the harrowing cry and despair of 

loyalists bereft and beating their breasts and hopes, their breasts and hopes still enchained to the 

groom, his cold cause, cold war and cold feet wondrously embroiled in unfolding nightmare at the 

dreamy scenery of the bride, her train having left the station, and her borne in motorcades with 

wings, private yachts, helicopter and aircraft jets, the toast of a new era, her shoes Dior and 

Then Jacob kissed Rachel, and he wept aloud. amma birago 

Genesis 29:11 
 

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amma birago dowry of a widow 

an egyptian woman of zeitoun and maadi 

AngloGold, her stole which steals the show, her apparel Lacroix and Berketex, its hem delicate 

lightly caress the tarmac - She bears no trace of the hijab or the burkah, or the mournful air of 

ulululation of a cluster of women once station master now bereft on the station platform. At the 

threshold of Christianborg castle and gardens on the night of the bride, women of Zeitoun and 

Maadi exhibit lily white undergarments virginal, Catholic and Coptic, they cut down new fronds 

of palm trees and harvest new linen, which also they spread red carpet. 

Osagyefo brought here - to these parts and to his bed - at Independence and New Year's Eve - a 

young woman from Egypt. ... She turned our heads and not exactly in a good way. 

Blissful of Leah south of the Sahara, she is Rachel and right outside of Christianborg by Makola by 

the Sea, also Salaga and Saaloan markets, women, hands on hips, outcry and up in arms, their 

breasts and best selves flatly denied better half and current investments - seeing as how the 

struggle of the dreamy candidate turned overnight groom, and for them no prize consolation nor 

interest, simple or compound, or commonwealth claim or shared custody of the man - shining 

example and hope of the world - true to his word - tending alone, intramural and his ideals and 

home castle Rhodes Cape to Cairo. 

Again in sixty one, the young Egyptian woman, once Mademoiselle Rizk, the obsidian find of the 

Sinares, in her arms memories of the date palms of her youth, here tropical and south of the 

Sahara, she is the icing on the cake mille feuilles of narratives promising lynchpin Pan Africa, 

white and black - Her wardrobes of fine silks and chiffon, elbow gloves of lace haute couture, the 

Then Jacob kissed Rachel, and he wept aloud. amma birago 

Genesis 29:11 
 

3 
 

amma birago dowry of a widow 

an egyptian woman of zeitoun and maadi 

world of citified women of the black villages south of the Sahara downcast and then broadcast, as 

the white world mesmerized by Africa’s premiere debutante first lady, obscure and dazzling, 

looked on -  

At the first Coiffure and Fashion extravaganza, the young woman from Egypt, Catholic and Coptic, 

she brings to the table Young Women's Christian Association at the event by Hollywood Beauty 

Culture Centre, at the Ambassador Hotel, and under her patronage, this our Bouvier, her tutelage, 

her awning and her auspices, the extravaganza perm and press, the mise en plis of various kinds, 

the thickened khol signature and brandable, the pancake rosy cheeks sweet sixteen so becoming 

of her - not our Saturday night powder. 

Osagyefo brought here - to these parts and to his bed - at Independence and New Year's Eve - a 

young woman from Egypt. ... She turned our heads and not exactly in a good way. 

The young Egyptian woman, tenable, her world a place in the sun, obsidian, obscure, tenacious, 

sprouting again and again like wild foxglove digitalis - her suitor, his pocket square kerchief 

Casablanca, again and again, seeded shrapnel stains of blood pouring forth fuchsia on white suit 

Casablanca of the man at the forefront of new and virgin country, fronteir and territory, his 

dream plagued and seized by full-blown unrests. 

At new home at Flagstaff house, better defence and better security, the roaring of prowls, howls 

and hungry hounds accompanying her thoughts and haunts, the scavenging seagulls yonder 

where once her buttressed home stood on ocean headlands, ocean roaring and furious, her life 

not so much our keepsake, a closed case shut, she is become from Egypt the young woman Mona 

Then Jacob kissed Rachel, and he wept aloud. amma birago 

Genesis 29:11 
 

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amma birago dowry of a widow 

an egyptian woman of zeitoun and maadi 

Lisa, La Gioconda, and no Eva Peron nor storm in our tea cup, however solace and embrace by 

the martriclan of Nkoranza, Nyamranza, Nzulezule and also of Nkroful, where of the house of 

Opanyen Kofi Ngolomah, in attendance the mortician and also Nyaniba, queen mother in law, 

sitting, awaiting the return of her son flown in from Romania, flag-draped and still earmarked. 

They waited still and she dying intestate in the arms of the young Egyptian woman, no sycamore 

or tamarisk at hand and certainly no obelisk. 

Osagyefo brought here - to these parts and to his bed - at Independence and New Year's Eve - a 

young woman from Egypt. ... She turned our heads and not exactly in a good way.  

All of French Soudan and Subsahara, their jubilant ulululation sendoff to this day, like that for 

Lot’s wife who we made look back - sendoff and dowry of a widow which we have since returned 

to sender - this their Mona Lisa, La Gioconda, envoy négritude Pan Africaine, the curtains 

drawing mournful to a close even before the second act, her mission théâtrale also Pan Africaine, 

white and black, lynchpin unseated and fait not accompli. 

dowry of 
a widow  
 
an egyptian woman 
of zeitoun and maadi 
 

Then Jacob kissed Rachel, and he wept aloud. amma birago 

Genesis 29:11 
 

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