Calloused Crowns:
(Encomium of African Motherhood & Resilience)
By: Zosu Selome Elisha
(Penname: Quill Scribbler 🪶)
Contact Information:
Email: selomelisha@gmail.com
Phone: 08164597315
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Calloused Crowns
(Encomium of African Motherhood & Resilience)
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By Quill 🪶
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She does not wait for dawn—
dawn waits for her.
Her hands are calloused crowns,
palms carved with sacrifice.
Her back bends, yet does not break.
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She has buried sons to hunger,
daughters to silence,
dreams to the hunger of nations.
Still she rises, still she sings—
still she will not break.
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African motherhood is not softness;
it is steel wrapped in tenderness.
A river that carves valleys of stone,
a drum that beats even cracked.
Her song says: we do not break.
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The nation forgets her often,
yet it is on her chest it has slept.
Her milk, her sweat, her blood—
the verses of survival.
Still she whispers: we do not break.
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Writer’s Bio:
Zosu Selome Elisha writes under the pen name Quill Scribbler 🪶. An African storyteller at heart, his work leans into the raw edges of life—grief, resilience, love, and the quiet power of memory. His style blends raw emotion with vivid imagery, often weaving ordinary life into timeless metaphors. He believes words can hold both wounds and healing, both silence and song. Through poetry and prose, he seeks to honor the unseen, give language to survival, and remind readers that even in the darkest night, ink can still bloom into light.
