The Witness of Time
She holds the future in her arms.
She arrived in Boukoumbé as a child, when the village was still becoming.
She watched houses rise, one by one, and fields fill with hands.
She remembered with a laugh that to reach Natitingou, the village owned only one piece of European clothing.
It was passed from body to body, shared like a secret.
One day, sent to fetch the doctor to save a dying parent, she walked with her younger sister on her back,
the oversized dress held in her teeth.
Bénin – Portrait de la grand-mère Koni debout devant une Tata Somba | Benin – Grandmother Koni standing portrait before a Tata Somba.
Bénin – Portrait en clair-obscur de la grand-mère Koni | Benin – Shadowed portrait of Koni grandmother.
Bénin – Portrait expressif de la grand-mère Koni | Benin – Expressive portrait of Koni grandmother.
Son profil dans une lumière douce, tête légèrement inclinée comme pour écouter un souvenir.
Bénin – Gros plan de la grand-mère Koni pensive | Benin – Close-up portrait of a pensive grandmother.
Portrait vivant de la grand-mère Koni levant les mains | Benin – Joyful portrait of Koni grandmother with raised hands.
Bénin – Gros plan intimiste de la grand-mère Koni | Benin – Intimate close-up of Koni grandmother.
Bénin – Portrait de famille multigénérationnel | Benin – Three-generation family portrait with Fiacre and grandmother.
The Hands that Remain
These hands have planted, harvested, and cooked.
They have soothed fevers,
washed children, and built walls of earth.
They have carried water and carried grief.
They have struck grain until dusk and lifted lambs in celebration.
They have also pushed away, hidden, shielded.
They carry the memory of what was endured,
and what was survived
Today they hold the sleeping child, and in the quiet they seem to say:
there is still love left to give.