Creatures from their abode above

The afternoon’s heat cannot hide

These creatures from their abode above

They jump and flap, flap and fly

They still mourn the passing

The sorrowful end of the nobleman

The land paid no reverence

In death his share was photography 

In my den

I will lead you then into my den

Whenever you have nowhere to go

An abode called nowhere

Somewhere where the paths meet the streets

Where your eyes will lead you

Through the corners and curves of nature’s gift

Oh its warmth and tenderness much to be desire

Your opened legs, eyes and mind

No free thing

Where have they all gone to

That he even begs

What should have been given to him freely

Loins that formed me

Father from whose loins formed me

Early and bright my thoughts abound

In the fear of your lord and master

When finally there

We’ll get there

It can be a smile

a path in the mind

that the eyes can’t measure

and when finally there

you’ll not see 

but others around you

Not picking my flies

I stand far away 

like a dog they came around me 

with their waist to dance

They shake their tail around

Not picking the flies that hover around

My bruising crown

SILENT CRIES

Blood like water

spilling on the bare earth

There is no time

mother earth to dig

his remains to leave

Hewed and gunned down

By a member of the clan

who spoke his language

and understood him no more

Our earth and its covering is scorched

and all which once sustained us

None but their echoes 

nothing but their ashes remain 
not even the raffia that held the family tight

N.B

Drops of misunderstanding when not nipped

in the bud among brothers and neighbours

can soon grow up into an ocean full of 

conflict, aggression and war that an entire

tribe can no longer swim in. 

Dedicated to

Professor Brandon Kendhammer.

Ohio University

African Studies Department.

10/05/2016

Rubbing dried leaves

Can we like branches intertwine

Our love to express?

O how they filled the silence

Together they rubbed their dried leaves

When I raised up my head and first saw you

I heard no more my footstep

But my heart beat

I now know

That I have in vain searched for a heart

When a heart so tender

And caring sought after mine

Why should I let her go?  

Falling tears

Tear drops fell on me like ice

And I wanted to vow a quest

I knew I could not reach

It is my last night today

Tomorrow will not find me here

Again like today with you

If today passes me by

Without saying it to you

Generations, the sky and all eyes

Will never forgive me

O, you are the best thing

That ever happened to me

Moon closed her eyes

When the moon closed her eyes

And the starlet night faded away into a lover’s bosom

All my fruits one after the other fell on the ground

If it were not your grasses which covered the hard ground

I would have been torn apart without repair. 

Under my candlelight

Who opened an alabaster oil

And ceased my sense of smell?

O whose eyes so dazzling,

I see so shining

With a set of white teeth

Sparkling their glorious smile

Over the dark and its cover

The only one I can see.

Come o come

The night will be long

It is a night so young

Don’t miss the warmth

That my light brings.

Come nearer my light

Under my candle light

To see beyond, lives my light

Beyond my light

No other brighter light

To shine your night

Her Fiery Eyes

O my night sky,

my windows were opened

Not broken

To allow in even these rays

The sun has gone down

And I have never seen her fiery eyes

Fly across my viewing sky

Until now

I want to live

I am living 
but I am not living

I don’t have a life, 
you have my life

and make me live

When you leave 
I will not live

Never leave me, my rib;

I want to live.

I sing another dirge tonight

Amεtee gidigidi

amεba dεkεdεkε

kε amεkoto sεε kpεnshεε kpεnshεε

I will tell you of the times

The times before the fall

Even before the worms

eat up my leaves

Como un encuentro

el encuentro de Korle e Insho

se moverán como serpientes

más rápido que las olas

que han olvidado su camino

en los grandes mares profundos

o yaafo lε fec lε fεoni efoc

I sing another dirge tonight

And none that heard came to console

The palm trees bear me witness

As their wine stood by my side

I will awake to walk your path

I will trace its footprints

When I march on

On on till I lose sight of you

Beni wctee wcyamc okpo

ni blcgi kumc eshwie

wcnaii anc ni wcbo shuushaa

Does it end there?

With falling leaves

And drying greens

And farming soil

Does it end there?

With falling rain

And scorching sun

And dry windy air

Does it end there?

Strong tide lifting

And anchor drifting

And cables straying

When tears get dry

And clouds roll by

With its darkness

Will it end there?