Saying I love you

another opening of the eyes

another break of the day

another chance to continue or make amends

another day to say I love you

Live life full

Live it full like all you have

Your last day with your love one

And all that passes and blows

Matters not, only this one

This friendship of old

That has come to stay

Live it full like today

All you have

Death forget us

Could you believe what I saw

Wrapped in a golden Plata

Delivered into my hands

Shinning like the royal she is?

Death forget us, sister

Just as we couldn’t make ourselves out

I AM A WONDER

I am a wonder

Made by a wonderful being

Because I live in a wonderful world

Full of wonderful happenings

I do wonderful things

WHEN WILL DAYBREAK COME?

When will daybreak come?

The smoky sky is gone

From where the shinning glory went

Along with the setting sun.

The muddy smelling breezes come

Scattering unclear shadows below

Oh failure, you rise high into the sky

How did flesh and blood do it

Generations gone have been failed

With what they left behind

Even those unborn and yet to come

The single mother earth

Still carries in her arms after her delivery

Tired and worn out, her day old twin

Grazing cattle on bare earth

Burning off industrial waste

Whereas above, the smoky sky goes

To join the setting sun

Eyes will close and not blink

At the rot left on top of you

Flies breeding, feet walking

Air blowing you cannot breathe

Where they lie scattered as a heap

On the their lips they pipe it out

From organs darker than the smoke out

The smoky sky goes

Along with its setting sun

When will daybreak come?

Many are her stale born

Nurtured in her womb

Many, her pain and aches

Now this sighing and mourning

Unconcerned, we looked and watched

What our hands and voice could change

Till into the skies it went

In thick smoke with the sun to set

When will daybreak come?

Flowing streams turn quick sand

Their visiting birds can no more fish but perch

And feel the cool fresh breeze

On the once an arable land turned desert

With stinking waste harmful to our health

Here the scraps lay along your banks, oh mother

Once a beautiful bank where the people stood

Now in scattered shadows

Speaking To Me

She is speaking to me

In the gentle moving waves

The blowing roaring sounds

In touches that move to and fro

The circumference of my soul

She is speaking, speaking since time

To the eyes and ears that came by

Per chance transported into her belly

Or swallowed but only to cleanly lick

Maybe once like has ever been done to their own

Oh come where is your hand?

Let me hold you while I shake them

Your transparent waves

Lined by the curves of their weeds and empty cans

Oh come give me your hands

In the middle of nowhere you are

Why not with me far from home

The setting sun will blind my eyes

While jealousy climb high into the skies

When it touches again at the curve

My face was covered in tears

While the beam reflected by your face I embrace

Was it fate that led me away

When I could have jumped into your clear waters

My life to lose just to be in that world with you?

© Emperor Leander David

Made accessible to social media pages of

Walk The Talk Group/ JP International (Jubilee
Projections International) and all their allied pages

The Loveliness Is Gone Out

The loveliness is gone out
From the baritone voice
And in its place a flux
A flux of feign smile
Engulfed in a lisping speech

DANCE

Blow their frail branches to intertwine
Grow fresh and green their leaves
Even their hard dry bark
And in their embrace
Like currents, its mild shock;
Their comforting hold on the neck
Brief as they lie in a lock.

Has she not kept quiet for so long?

Have I not said it all, the same?

My deep breaths, my tearful eyes

They still speak for themselves even now

Have you not seen it all, my hand?

Have you not measured it all, its length?

How my sweat never got dried up

For a future very gloomy even now.

Bear me witness, that clear truth

Coming out of that weary soul

Which will not be heed to

I know she knows I know:

Countless fruits from the stalk

Countless gifts on her table

Countless words of promises

Have still not paved the way

If she knows I know she knows

That what I know, she wants not to know

But from them whom she loves most

Her, they have loved little if not

At the moment when eyes see it all

Differently: beautiful and peaceful;

Can it all end, suddenly, so soon?

If wondering thoughts can breed it all

Moments shared would forever turn dreams

That ever happened but for a while;

Moments gone will they wish

Should they end with one who touched the heart.

Heh! Will she ever speak?

Hmn! Will it ever be for me?

DANCE

Who will strike the strings
The strings of the harp?
Who will play its magical notes
To march away this deadening
The hanging cares and fears
Which resettles after dusting

She loves me but what is love’s crown

Which ends not at the altar?

What is love’s depth and foundation

Without a chance to trust and understand?

What are kisses which bears no fruits in the womb?

What are words flowing from the lips of a coward?

What are promises made not of the truth?

Many have been my night of loneliness

When solitude at an arm’s length

Stood ready to enter if called

On bent knees for a plea

In cool calm voice to appeal

Silent voices blurring on the ear drum

Only to warn, to chastise

To console not confuse

My heart still grows fonder forever

Its beat, still faster at her presence.

Has she not kept quiet for so long?

Have I not said it all, the same?

My deep breaths, my tearful eyes

They still speak for themselves even now.

Blewu oo

Nyε herea oo aoo  aoo

Sages of the beyond

Look down on us

Stretch forth your unfailing light on our way

Can we follow the path and still miss our trail?

We cannot go across the river now that the bridge has caved in

We turn left and right the enemy opens wide its mouth to swallow

Returning we’ll eat up our vomit

We swore by the living oracle

He forgives not when you fulfill not your word

His eyes go far even into the beyond

He searches the eyes and minds

No secretes go unknown under his presence

Nyε herea oo aoo  aoo

Back home they sit under the open sky

By the flickering oil palm light

Mounted they, their gourd of palm wine

No one pours it down but up into their throats

No one throws down the milled corn

To chant our names and redeem our heads from this shame

None has marked his body putting his cloth on his head

The darkness to peep through when the cowries are tossed

O wise sages

We have left in vain having none so worthy

None to even burn incense for our souls

Nyε herea oo aoo  aoo

Its over 40 days since our bodies were lowered

The red earth to lie on them

Mantse Ofe allowed his earth to open

And forbid it not to put a hem on us

As we hear their foot steps

And how they plan to drink our wine

Dance with our children

And make love to our wives

I shiver in this cold thought

O sages look down on us

Pitiful sight and fumbling in words

This boat awaits us until the morn disappears

And we’ll be left here in this arid valley

Separated forever from our fathers

If you stretch not forth your mercy

Blewu oo

Look down on their folly and destroy not twice

Look down on the dying nature and restore it all

Look down on their innocence and send your light bearers

The sun is long gone since our departure

Let the dawn awake and give hope to our progeny

We await our deeds to be remembered

To descend on us and send us home

Let it not fail us like the grass on a jealous watch

Awaiting its groom, the early morning dew

And like our deeds let our weary souls find

Eternal rest in thy unfailing remembrance

Gbobaloi Choreopoem

Ye who took our names

Ye who refused to stay

nor remain in the grave

but her womb torment and torment

Gbobalo ogbanje gbo kaaba don

Our anger will mark your faces

No more our cherished names

but naanyo ogbanje gbobalo

We’ll mourn you no more

You who refuse to stay long

on the land and in the grave

We’ll not spit

but our saliva, lick

Our wells have dried up

Our pots are broken

Our tears, they overflow

At your soul we’ll hoot and shoot

or gather no more, we, because of you

We dig no more into the earth, you to lay

Into the evil forest go we, you to leave
for termites you to chew

Gbo kaaba don

Abebrese Sumina

May the head of the ram

roll away your feet to leave

Into these dark shadows of no return

where you once lived

Oh cruel spirits of Ogbanje

of Ababio Pijir Jajir Gbobalo

gbo kaaba don

Leave

we in peace.

We’ll live!

Leave

with your kola.

In peace we’ll live!

Leave!

Drink the blood spill.

In peace we’ll live!

They have come like miners, all

all the water in us to drain

Stolen waters they still take

even through the same outlet

long after our pots are broken

overflowing their tear drops.

You die and refuse to sleep

You who were born

You who refuse to live

Da yie, sleep, yaawo jogban

Rest your energetic bodies

We have drawn our net

And our catch has been stale

Keepers of the underworld

Sleep not, rest not

Tie their restless souls

Hold with invisible chains

the unfailing strength

Ours is the well

already drying up

Its water has dried, deep

and our pots fit no more on our waiting heads

They overflow their broken parts

With tears they cannot contain

Spirits of Akokoshie we’ll not call

We refuse your sweet water

for our soul is bitter

Just a drop of your presence

Oh spirits of Ten tso

Receive our heartfelt gratitude

your solidarity for the past week

Before we laid to rest

Those tireless same faces

Same body 

Same day

Our pots got broken.

A shadow like a globe

Lay hold on the rays entering my eyes

Bigger and bigger when it passed me by

It gave a sound a clash of two rocks

Which grew this lightning splashes

Beckoning the departed to the market

when it is raining and shinning?

Ataa Naa Nyonmo blinked again

and we received our share

here in this wood

a waist in a bow, we labour in the fields

at the mercy of our feet lay

the greens on which the salty sweat falls

by the colour of our earth each step is painted

And visible on the feet

as each marching step prepares the land

the planting season has begun

when men in the fields their sharp cutlasses raise

women behind, the fallen leaves rake

as they sang

ke abele eba eee, ke abele eba eee…

gallant greens, plunge in pride and in their prime

grace the ground when golden rays fall

on them to adorn

the morrow and its sky

Should not let lose their tears down on them

Piloloo yaafo bemIi  

I could hear in my hut ( a kind  of children play)

Kwakwe bile egbo  (song accompanying a dead mouse)

Woya woya fu le,

ke emusu kamisa

As I pause and wonder

As I yearn to see this vision

this vision to which only my ears were privy

The noise passed behind my hut

The night passed into my hut

There his mother’s voice sounded, Kofi

Kofi, pick me some spice from the goat skin bag

The village queen who could not follow her love to the fields

Her baby in her womb, already stiff, hard and huge

like a mountain

O call me your dad,

Call me my man,

Call me him,

Call him before it drops here

Before I soil myself with it

A rush into and from the huts

Into the woods where legs cut through unused paths

And like a warrior chasing out his attackers

We made way through the thick dark night

The moon covered its face and looked not our direction

Her aches, the groaning came loudest

Life called on the right and death on the left

Where is the old man?

Did he stand on his wobbling feet for our sake?

Gone were the days in the midst of the compound

Gone were the men brave, with their swords raised

Waiting his tongue to sound, his tongue to lead the way

In a hand held up high

A calabash filled with water

Older women their white cloth covered

Around a calabash held high.

By a raised arm of a man

a man as old as the oldest of the land

He intoned these words, only few retained in my memory

Ataa Kpakpa kekewo

In solemnity he looked up

In awe his invocation to the unseen

,

,

His voice in submission let out:

Receive our water when they fall on the ground

And let our broom be thick together

A daughter you gave us is on her way to the waterside

She goes not with a basket to fetch water but a pot!

O let her pot be full when she returns!

O Her path, clear and smooth,

Dare not cross her path ye black cats

that precedes the blinking of the evil eye

The tongue that tastes pepper and salt

let it not find her, but return to its home to settle

We give you water

Let it be acceptable

Bless this earth which her feet lay

Bring her home with her pot filled with water

The water that will quench the thirst of our people

The fathers have slept yet walk among us

They forbid us going through their fofoi tsei

When the eyes of the moon open

and the croak of the cockerel has gone at once

woe unto you when you search abui in the dry grass

with a palm oil lamp when the moon fails to appear

No feet ever went through this darkness

without suffering a kiss from onufu  

Who will lead the way through the darkness?

May the fathers close their eyes on their tongue

and hear my plea amidst this raging waves

my strong arm is tied at my back

the other only cuts through the air missing its target

Dad do you hear and see something move in the grass?

Dad do you see the light in the grass?

Dad… do you see that tall thing ahead?

Huh? It’s nothing. I don’t see anything.

Young lips should only watch a stone when it has beard

A knock on the door

A palm oil lamp lights up

A door opens after a voice of an old lady is heard

A heavy load descends from father’s back

A rush to catch it when on the floor fell red 

A voice thinner than his, sounded after the lash

A question, if it was human

A smile on his face at last, after the answer

Still the sun sleeps in his hut;

the moon on a stroll 

when to yet another gathering he was invited:

the bright and morning star to accompany,

the new infant to see. 

With unique brightness it gazed

hearing from afar recitals and songs

to accept yet another infant

in joy as they gathered;

All in his presence, 

the infant to wish the best.

That morning with birds singing,

the rush through the thick thickets ...

A woman in labour a baby's cry...

So they gather together today,

early with the moon,

the infant to see,

water falling from the roof on her,

her cry on the ground: she is alive,

Water and corn drink to taste,

with gifts, in joy and hope

this infant to wish the very best.

Only A Hunter Walks Alone

It is only a hunter who walks alone

When the sun is asleep

When the eye of the leaves sees not

The light from the moon

And only the caressing sound of his smock

On their dangling leaves is heard

I see guns pointed at the poor open sky

I see the back of them on their head top

Faces are marked in white

Around they move

Red eyes look in confusion

Hunu eje shi dun soo

Shi dun soo   ( refrain)

How can a bird in flight have a gun hidden in its wings

And will rather shoot through its mouth

Where is the child with the sword who wants to kill the lion

Sit by my feet and I will spit in your mouth

When the elders invite you into their midst

you will know how to well wash your hands to their feast

Day will not break forth

Without seeing the name of the hunter on mleloo

The downpour that led to this

The hostage of the hunter

Who entered the forest that dawn to pluck baa

Hunu eje shi dun soo

Shi dun soo   ( refrain)

We know not for the one who knows not

We will keep if not him kill

Let them know even to the ends of the earth

We know not for the one who knows not

We are the woods

We made them

We are what is within them

We know them

May the drink of the elders

Not alone sink into the earth

But their roots let it pick and keep

We remember their deeds this day

Ada Mantse welenpe

For the fall of their kind

For their folk songs when they went gay

Koo Koolokoto ...

Koo Koklobigbanten...

Who woke me up from my deep dream of peace?

Where is that cock that has desecrated my afternoon?

Bring me Osaagyefo

Bring me Bussia

Bring me Hila

Bring me the learned Prof.

You woke me up

I summoned them

Voices only echoed into the blowing air

You break a pot of akpeteshie on the bare earth

Who said run away from my fire

When my match lighted up

Hahahahahah

The feet of the hen has never killed its chicks

I will speak once more before I accept my pacification

Before i sleep again

Hoping no one will again me wake

Hunu eje

Hunu eje shi dun soo

Shi dun soo   ( refrain)

I will tell of the tale told of yesteryears

The tale they told i will tell

I will tell my way

My way not their way

But their tale

The tale of old

Of far away

Where the earth meets the heavens

A truck without brakes on a slope steep

None can stop this lip of mine

None stops it on its track in full speed

So I will speak

I will speak my mind: their mind;

Through your minds, your hearts it will enter  

 There it will grow

This vegetation pure and spotless and green

Will need no pruning, weeding, watering

But will grow

Will grow

... grow

Hunu eje  hunu eje

shi dun so shi dun soo   ( refrain)

Sikridi

I will not die

I will walk to the grave yard

I will dig my own grave

My spade in my hand i will cover my self

hahaHa Sikridi: migboo ni maya mi gbonyo bu mli

I am more than a hunter

I go nowhere

Without the ancient spirit of the land

Around me they hover

Things to come me they tell

I dream before it comes

In a night vision i saw descending

Night, how memorable you are

Just after I close my eyes

No time to count the akpale tsee before the tap

Night, how memorable you are

nuu ko hi nyontsere mli

All was bright and fair

The old man with the single eye
Stands awake on top a tree high
The weary body aches
The itching feet in haste
Beginning by a step
To get there:
Becoming like our father I AM
His masterpiece I am.

Eyes woke up after a tap

Dreams seemed short

No more a vision

Real, a figure

From an unknown world came

Who will believe my story?

Come! he said

Come to wonderland

This figure I saw

In fear I obeyed

With curiosity I heard

His guidance I obeyed

And soon and soon we were away

Distance was not miles to travel

But in the mind  

Realms, constellation and times

By a will, all through, we went

Dazzling stars falling down

Like lightning flashes we saw

Neither storms nor tempest

Neither enemies nor foes

Only calm smooth ride

Reared its ugly heads

 As we rode on and on

A big room I saw

Of inventions to come and gone

Oh eyes one day will we hold

Oh blindness on earth will abound

Who will believe this story?

Who will share this pain?

I saw it but will not be there

I said it because I saw it

In awe I behold this new land I see

Sparkling clean no dirt I see

Earth unlike mine, not made of steel

Gold on the floor that stood the feet

Nothing that ought to be mined

Like my mine on earth, oh men

Streets of gold not tar so black

Only wishes I had and could be

Not horses to see more so ride

Who will believe this story?

Who will share this delight?

I saw it but for long will not be there

I said it because I saw it

Peace like a river

They lived more powerful than us

Yet not as vicious as we are

Not big not so tall

Men I saw, men not black

Men alive and kicking, men not red

Men so strong men not white

But men were blue like the sky

Men with iron on their necks

With big eyes like on the statues at Easter Islands   

I saw this but for long will not be there

I have said it because I saw it

I end this, this is my story

 

Kokrokoo Kokrokoo

Men in a chase

A cock in a flight

For desecrating the afternoon

The sleep of the elders

The peace of the land

His throat is slashed

For food to appease

The elders when awake

Their peace to restore

Kokrokoo Kokrokoo

Three parts the night divide

The silence to be broken

The ancient ones to begin

The journey to their homeward way

The men of the tribe

Their huts and shelters awake

Their praise to their maker

Through his sun

For clearing the fearful dark

Hunu eje shi dun soo

Shi dun soo   ( refrain)

The feet of the hen has never killed its cheeks

I will speak no more neither my wraths keep

Hoping none will again me wake

Sikridi hahaha

I will not die

I will walk to the grave yard

I will dig my own grave

My spade in my hand i will cover my self

Sikridi hahaha: migboo ni mahie keya mi gbonyo bu mli

Hunu eje shi dun soo

Shi dun soo   ( refrain)

Hunu enyo agbene

Eshwe wo mini

Eshwe wo shitee