Oh man who walks -narrator
(while actions go on on stage)
You came as far into the premises (a
ghost roams the stage badly
But you lay behind the fence to sleep (dressed
like a slave, outcast etc.
Like a commoner (although
at home but none sees him/her
Like a slave
Like an outcast
Though the name of the clan
Is tied to your navel
Blessed be they -
Narrator
Parents, family and friends they forsook
to search a land
this land promised of old
promised by the ancient of days
to bless them, those they left behind
on their return
Oh this I see under the sun -Narrator
(scenes of frustrations in life
Once I read it - bad
harvest, dressing like a pauper)
Twice I have seen it - (preparation
for a voyage,)
How our sweat yielded naught -(using
unsafe route through, sea,
How the seed time passed -(road
the desert)
And the time of harvest followed
And still nothing in hand to show
Oh this I have seen and more
Did he bid the heavenly gales?
His boat awaits him on the shore
Horses and chariots brought him
Him so high
To set sail on a journey
Another I have seen
Through the desert storm they gathered
to thread
Washed by the dusty winds that blew
Smelling of the hot sun’s water brewed
under the skin
Oh tattered clothes that speak of him
Who entered with bare feet?
Speeding while on the asphalt
Behind the wheels
as if the end time is come
Life flies into an oblivion
An endless pit irretraceable
Leaving along the curvature of its
sphere
Sour bitter sweetness.
An aftermath of the afternoon’s
whirlwind at Bongo Tankui
Cooled by the breeze that the opened
windows can’t contain
Unless one sits at the door way at
lartebiokorshie.
Off the town of Kpon -Narrator
( search for flood victims in tears)
A place called Kpoi ete I see (others
are consoled)
In tears, broken and shattered
They call the god of the bees
to vomit out the body of a clansman
all those the flood waters took into the
sea
all those the waves have swallowed
and settled in the deep
and now in their bellies full
Dance
1
On the sun deck I cannot
see -choreography
At those who wave me I weep
Along the shores waiting and wishing
My honey comb to fall, in a sack sweet.
Their words the waves swallow
Their sight the tides hide
Till their efforts and strength subside.
Yet will I soar with the oars
My honey comb in hand across the seas
The rays to trace till my sun sleeps.
At those who wave me I weep
Along the shores waiting and wishing
My honey comb to fall, in a sack sweet.
Their words the waves swallow
Their sight the tides hide
Till their efforts and strength subside.
Yet will I soar with the oars
My honey comb in hand across the seas
The rays to trace till my sun sleeps.
Where are our graves? -
ghost
We bid them farewell
In the name of fortune
We have been led on
Without asking the fortune teller
Our bodies float on the waters
Approaching the shore of la Padusa.
Horses that threw down Ananse -ghost
Intikuma now sits on.
The mouthpiece of the god’s
Are now stitched in silence
As if they wear a mascaraed
And none wants to go near them.
Dance 2
The scary nights under the
moonlight -Choreography-(Frightening
My cries that never went
home sound from a flute)
Only fishes came near
And their belly whales full.
We counted the many nights
before the single day
We sang our own dirges waiting
to perish
We fought not but hanged on
to the only tune while it lasted
the beat of the gun shots
we heard
and the swift dance of the
whales we saw
when will it be our turn we
asked?
We were all dead
Dead Before our bodies got
to the shore
The cries of the tones of
blood
Which drained into the
mighty ocean without a trace, I hear.
It is calling
Calling but who hears?
With bait they caught us
into their net
And took us all out one
after the other from their catch
like fishes to descale like
silent sheep to the slaughter
migbooee
abahere miee
who will tell the story -ghost
of how I also sank
as I stand close to my home
I entered its boundaries
But could only lie behind its mud walls
Oh take me home
To sleep with my fathers.
The head of the cat I never took -ghost
When it was served in my calabash bowl
So should I suffer this fate?
I touch my motherland -
ghost
But empty feeling
Not knowing am already gone.
Still waiting my return
With a sack of gold like I promised
And a plough to mow.
Dance 3
A return in vain -choreography
A return from where the sun
has set
Only darkness oh cold
unbearable
Only phantoms oh
dissipating shadows.
I appear in their dreams at night -
Ghost
They forget to tell when awake
Let alone for the clan to act.
They cut loose the raffia that held the
living and the dead
They disown their priest and burn their
wooden altars.
Who will tell my tale, -
Ghost
My remains to be brought back home
While I languish in la Padusa and Kpoi
ete?
Far away from home -
ghost
I yearn for my fatherland where Nii was
buried
Far away from home
Taken away by the flood waters
Circle , alajo, faanofaa, caprice,
kaneshie, pamplome, abossey okine
who will take me home?
Dance
4
who will dip his finger
into water -
Choreography (ghost who have
to reach me in this arid
realm lost way home)
while my tongue thirst in
torment?
who will go to the witch at
Egendi?
to pierce through the veil
and show me the way
for I must lie with my fathers
not behind their walls?
who will enter into my
sphere to console
while I stand here alone in
tears
(Poem
Bleoooo, song)
(Ye
ma mu osee, song)
The night gathers at la padusa -Narrator
(while actions
Reveals men at shore men carrying their
wares (go on on stage)
Never leaving the shore but dissipating
into the night
Before the morning comes.
Full of strangers their market places
are
While they sit at the bars at night not
to purchase drinks
I see one dressed as on a journey, kids and
luggage too I see
Thicker the night filled with fear and grim
When another I see at the bus stop at dawn
Chatting
while empty busses call
Dance 5
He
knew our lot -Choreography
(Flash back)
He
had no choice
Many
the waters that perforated through our hands
When
we went to the waterside with a cracked
pot.
Many
the effort of men
Many
the spoils of the enemy
When
we lost the fight
We
ran to fight again someday
Like today
Like today
I your king, prophet and priest -king
(flash back)
I’ve led this host more than Fernando did
of old
Or Alexander the great.
Oh shining star that speaks of men so
great.
You showed your light in my firmament
What of the night?
Why leave me in the middle of this great
ocean and the devil?
Oh tomorrow we shall go -King
(change of countenance)
Tomorrow will not pass me by
Tomorrow cannot be if I go not
Swift went the king swifter fell the
enemy -Narrator
We saved the empire and -servant
(in scream from the battlefield)
More than eyes have seen or tongue
counted before -Servant (eye
Tasted the savour of this royal branded
steel (witness from the battle)
While the bloodbath dripped from his
mighty right arm
More than a thousand broken limbs went
down with him too
we lost a king -servant
(servant breaks down in tears)
He might lie
behind the walls but will he rest there? -narrator
That night he said -Narrator
(Flash back)
I bid you to swear -King
Swear like the fathers ever did
When the heavy boughs of death lay on
their broad shoulders
And could no longer they carry
we swore by the God of our fathers -Servant
By the ancient God of old
Who led our brothers to walk through the
sea on dry path
After the river turned red,
That your bones rest in the belly of the
earth and not burnt;
That should you even lie behind the walls
of our fathers
When none could raise your bones across
the rivers,
We will leave your bones facing our home
(Gbonyobu
mli nyeko be jen song)
Carrying his remains across the river -narrator
(while action
He slept with his fathers (
Within the walls of their sacred abode
like we swore
Dance 6
This is the day choreography
display
Today the noise of battle ends
The victory song fills the air
The old warrior’s name sinks into our ears
But nowhere to hear them chant it
Today there was something in the sky
Today the noise of battle ends
The victory song fills the air
The old warrior’s name sinks into our ears
But nowhere to hear them chant it
Today there was something in the sky
The clouds were dark and
moon red
The warrior knows best
But to give his people a leader
Today all our cream of soldiers fell
With him a thousand broken limbs
With the scream and shouts
Today gives his people victory
Today his achievements float on the earth
Today his body sinks below the earth
Today his soul joins the heroes
Today the heavens open for our hero
The warrior knows best
But to give his people a leader
Today all our cream of soldiers fell
With him a thousand broken limbs
With the scream and shouts
Today gives his people victory
Today his achievements float on the earth
Today his body sinks below the earth
Today his soul joins the heroes
Today the heavens open for our hero
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