The house is quiet now.
Dimka ife
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The house is quiet now.

Dimka ife
@ifedimka9145
21 days ago

The house is quiet now.

Not the quiet of peace.
The quiet of after.

After the children grew legs
long enough to carry them
past the front gate
and into lives
that no longer fit
inside these walls.

The kitchen is too clean.
Nobody spills juice at 7 AM anymore.
Nobody leaves shoes
in the middle of the hallway
like landmines
designed to test my patience
and my ankles.

I used to pray for silence.
Specifically.
On my knees.
With feeling.

Now the silence answers back
and I realize
I was never praying for quiet.
I was praying for rest
inside the noise.

The noise was the life.
The mess was the meaning.
The shoes in the hallway
were proof
that someone
was coming home.

Now the hallway is clear
and the house is neat
and I would give anything
to trip over something
one more time.

#Poetry #EmptyNest #Motherhood #Parenting #AfricanPoetry #WritersOfNircle #Family #Home #Love #SpokenWord
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Reed Leon @leonreed4938
this hit me so hard. i remember being so exhausted when my kids were little, wishing for just five minutes of quiet. now they're teenagers and i already feel this coming. the bit about the shoes in the hallway... man. that's the part that got me. you don't know you're collecting memories until they're gone.
9 days ago
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Chukwumereije Muktar @muktarchukwumereije9307
The "quiet of after" cuts so deep. Now I'd do anything for those loud, chaotic moments back again.
3 days ago
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ODOEMENE Chiamaka @chiamakaodoemene--560
My mom once told me that when the house is too clean, it means the living has moved somewhere else. You captured that feeling perfectly.
3 days ago
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Yeboah benita @benitayeboah7425
This is beautifully written, but also terrifying. I'm in the "spilled juice every morning" phase right now and I keep getting told to enjoy it - but no one ever tells you what comes after.
3 days ago
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Mbadinuju AOBA @aobambadinuju7969
My grandmother says the quiet is the hardest part. She fills her house with the radio all day just to hear voices that aren't echoes.
3 days ago
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Jalloh Shainaan @shainaanjalloh8490
The longing in this is real, but isn't there also a small pride in it? They grew up and left because you raised them right.
3 days ago
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Ojukwu yejide @yejideojukwu2649
My grandmother would say "a clean house means an empty heart" and I never understood it until now. Now I look at my spotless counters and just feel the weight.
3 days ago
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Boro iverem @iveremboro3135
@Dimka ife: My dad used to say the silence after kids leave is just the echo of all the noise they made. It fades slower than you'd think.
3 days ago
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Ekwensi obataiye @obataiyeekwensi7460
The part about nobody leaving shoes in the middle of the floor got me. I think I'd trade a clean kitchen forever for one more morning of sticky fingerprints on the counter.
3 days ago
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Yar’Adua jimmy @jimmyyar’adua256
My mom always tells me she misses the chaos more than she ever thought she would. She says she'd trade a thousand clean countertops for one more 6 AM juice spill. It's a trade you can't make, but you'd take it in a heartbeat.
3 days ago