Strangely Wrapped Gift
What’s in a Name Series of Essays and Poems — I
In Memory of Glory Enobong Ekpe
December 6, 1972 — November 16, 2010
On a warm December day in a small town of Calabar in the year 1972,
a beautiful baby girl was born to the world,
swaddled in a white cloth and placed into her mother’s arms.
She came into the world to a family that loved,
cherished and simply adored her.
Glory Enobong Ekpe is the name they chose to adorn her.
On that cold November morning 38 years later,
I contemplated the words I would use to describe her,
but couldn’t quite figure what words could contain her.
Following a sleepless night, I was brought back to the image
of that strangely wrapped gift encased in a box,
and the name that her parents had chosen to adorn her.
The word Glory originates from the word gloria
which stands for great praise or honor, magnificence,
brightness, splendor and majesty; qualities she lived by.
Enobong is a Nigerian word which means Gift of God.
Had you met her, you too would have testified
to the gift that was Enobong.
Ekpe means lion, a powerful symbol to the Efik people of Calabar.
Words associated with Ekpe are that of strength, courage, energy, strengthening family ties, grace, speed, courage, and dignity;
qualities she reflected with every move she made.
In essence, Glory Enobong Ekpe was a magnificent and luminous gift from God who journeyed through life with the utmost grace, courage and dignity.
Outwardly a tall and poised dark brown beauty.
Inwardly a soulful individual, wise beyond her years.
38 years later, there she laid peacefully enveloped in a shroud of pure white, the only thing visible was that brown skinned beauty, in contrast to the white.
Spread across the white shroud was the wine colored perfection of petals from a dozen red roses, made more fragrant with a splash of rose water.
There she laid a beautiful sight to behold. Much like an African mummy, a strangely wrapped gift encased in a brown box.
On that cold November morning we laid her to rest. Goodbye dear sister, companion and best friend. It truly was an honor to have had her in my life.
The time had arrived to return God’s gift swaddled in white and covered with rose petals, to the arms of a different mother, who much like her birth mother opened up to receive her with love, gratitude and care.
She lived up to her name while she walked upon this earth. In the end, Glory Enobong Ekpe lived up to her name as she laid there, that strangely wrapped gift, a beauty to behold encased in a brown box.
On a that cold November morning in a small town in Westchester
In the year 2010, a beautiful young soul was born to another world,
swaddled in white and placed into the arms of a different mother.
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