kokrokoo kokrokoo

Kokrokoo Kokrokoo

Waring men in a chase fright 

Poor cockrel in a hasty flight

Sacred abode of the visible noon 

Desecrated below the unseen moon 

Short the sleep of the elders lived

Gone the peace of the green land out

The feathery throat when slashed cried out loud 

A wholesome meal prepared to appease

The raging elders provoked to awake

A restoration of exceeding peace

Kokrokoo Kokrokoo

Three parts the virgin night is divided

The fragile silence soon to be broken

The tired ancient ones to begin

The steps towards their home way

The strong bones of the happy tribe arrayed

Their huts and shelters awake

Three times their unblemished praise

Three times ascend to their mighty maker

Giving way for his sun's rays

Driving away the feared dark

Bitter buds sweeter when it flowers

All gaily the sparrows on the tall tree high

train not to sing their choruses in the morn

An ensemble which only surges ahead by day

not knowing where their prey may be

will harvest where they have not tilled

Like flower lilies bereft of cozy costumes

pretty appears when always in bloom

In splendor, magnificence and grandeur

be wields the eye leaving it in esthetic glory

with buds bitter to taste, sweeter when it flowers    

Dedicated to TA Deborah

Without choices

Smiles like tears
cling the lashes of the eyes
in between dreaming and waking up
the dusk and morn
where i stand with you
a decision to make
but without choices.




By Emperor Leander David
17.8.2018

No, not one.

Is there any excuse?
No, not one.
If even there be
I will say it not
I wont say it all.

The Dancing Night

Smiling breast born with
dancing in her blood
Boils off its sweat 

even to pant
Loud cheering glances
precede her humble presence

which is engulfed 

in a never-giving up short strong arms.

Going is coming

dancing not stopping
meeting a happy night

The open sky reveals its womb
no blood nor chord
but fresh air guarding a starless night
A defeated prince 

who will come back with the moon

to fight against time and chance

To send the night packing

not with a kiss
nor a diamond flickering gaze

but a detachment
on a lonely seat.

Hands fell low in shamelessness
seduced by a speedy feet in hasty boots
Their blinded eyes reflect their cold wet reception

which none should emulate

Fount Of Love

If I must sip but once

and quench an inevitable thirst,

where will I go between two clear rivers?

In onward wonder a river will keep me;

deep reflections of regret, another.

While each step meanders,

thou fount of love

through me that will flow

do find me quickly

that perfect outlet slope.

For in weakness I bear this hold

so strong to let you show.

© Emperor Leander David

Who Has The Hammer

 

Eugene Edzorho (b. 1986), Untitled "Governor III" 2017,Rocks from Galamsey sites, Dimension variables

Explosion

                Break asunder

Chipping the pieces to collect

Washed to refine

To pollute the lot

In your bosom Oh nature

We ruin

We no more drink the ancient waters

The waters of our fathers

They stink

And our catch on the surface motionless lay  

 Whose untimely death our actions caused

Fallowed earth

We’ve lost

We’ve ruined

Like rocks though in pieces

Left to hang above

On our waiting heads will stray and fall

We say aloud and paint them around

“Foreigners  foreigners” as if they did them all

Not locals who in turn their living made

And now join the crowd to hoot and shoot

Our own lurks around while they, we soon deport

Say no more if you can’t punish them all

“Foreigners foreigners” as if they did them all”

© Emperor Leander David

Prince Oduro (b. 1996), Stop Galamsey, 2017, Mixed media, 4ft by 4ft 

NB

In support of “Orderly Disorderly”

Ongoing end-of-year-exhibition held by blaxTARLINES Kumasi

Open daily: Monday to Sunday, 8am - 6pm

Closing: Friday, 1st September, 2017.

@ Museum of Science and Technology, Accra.

Made accessible to social media pages of
Walk The Talk Group/ JP International (Jubilee Projections International)
and their allied pages.

I Won't Drink From Any Again

I longed and desired

when I got lost in your rivers

which carried me not away

but washed the shores of my soul.

I asked to keep a part of you

a part I would have thrown away

but I still have.

It’s right by me now.

Oh I won't drink from any again

than from the calabash I took from you



© Emperor Leander David


NB

First publish by 'Our Empire' on Google blog

Made accesible to social media pages of
Walk The Talk Group/ JP International (Jubilee Projections International)
and their allied pages.

Choruses of Thunder

How can I wear this linen white

and parade this groaning arena and streets?

My motherland burns in mourning

no ashes leaving.

How can I point out at those hands  

which have on them these innocent blood

when they conspired with a voice from home?

This candlelight I must raise but when

and on which stand

so it’s not hidden?

Should the water god still leave along the curvatures of its shores

where the waters clasp at the end of the rainbow

its pot of gold?

I know I shall see the elephant

taking its gorgeous turn, surely when it does

opening up the heavens to break forth

in choruses of thunder.

© Emperor Leander David


NB

First publish by 'Our Empire' on Google blog

Made accesible to social media pages of
Walk The Talk Group/ JP International (Jubilee Projections International)
and their allied pages.

The Broken Pot

Onufule is on her way to the waterside

The fountain of the fathers

which has never known dryness

Obishi is in the kitchen

to fill the hut with salt and red oil palm

Mama sits by his side

as she kneads torn socks

Oh the master of all he surveys

drinks his brewed palm

The afternoon’s sun returns to his hut

Onufule who must get to the waterside before sunset

hits her flip-flops against her toes

as she bites away the dusty distance

Where are they to see her dance

and turns every curve and twitch of her maker’s gift

Where are they as the drums run amok to a frenzy

their pretty feet which needs no colouring

adores the rhythmic beats with their steps

Can’t you hear the drums thundering

the flutes enchanting

while the winds blow them in their riots

Beats that charm your fears and tears

and frightens your cheeks

leaving them bloated and buffed

beats that knock at your doors

to invite you to a dance of the elders

and of the ancestors

and cause your head to nod like the lizards

and feet to caress the ground with their taps

I saw these beats turn into impulses

I saw these beats exciting your sensibilities

I saw it drawing you closer and closer

to the prepared land full of flora and fauna

In your hands they turn your swords into plough sheds

and pruning hooks

and breaths into an indelible ink

ever writing the intents of the fathers

of the past and their glorious promises of the future

The beats no more hide under the skins of the drums

This is the night of the full moon

oh can she make it in time?

She runs and walks, her knee jerks her tie

She stretches, raises an arm, in twist and turns

oh her dance, the dance before all

all on her head fell

The ancient pot of the fathers broken

who will mend and patch and glue and heel

who born of woman can?

Oh not in shame the adage said

The one who goes to the waterside

is the one who breaks the pot

but should it be the ancient pot

Well let’s see how the sticks in the drummers hand

said it all when finally at home

Obishi

serve Papa his soup, Mama said.

My tongue will swim in a pool of red soup today

Onufule

you have returned sweating?

Ah my tongue will be quenched forever

All was silence…

She will tell her story as the performances unfold.

my match

I throw a match

To set ablaze

Without smoke this flame

This fire that burns not

That inspires that relieves

And leaves not ashes or hatred

But peace and joy within

Under the mango tree

when the furious fire at the top

melts down all its wax,

under the mango tree we shall all be

not for its refreshing shade

but the undying fire which rest beneath

hahah

fire that consumes not the body

but the doubting thoughts

this fire will peel off your skin

to look younger than before

hahaha

no one knows my name and liveth

call me the stranger under the mango tree at Orokoto

who spits fire that burns no smoke

I know not my abode

I remember where the sun shines at dawn

And the sky meets the earth

Hahaha

I shall tell you no more

But this fire that comes from my lips

They fear me because of this fire

But I fear it too though from me

Because it can burn me too

Soaked with the fragrance from the garden

I soaked myself daily

In the fragrance from the garden

Waiting his gentle latter rains

On or vows to shower

Our pure and spotless lily

Its flowers to nourish

So that at the time of picking and pecking

More than a hand full of smiles

Will us cover and bind

Along the short lived painful journey

After I say I do, I love you

Before the pleasures forevermore

You alone and all that I’ll do with you

When will day break 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

I see failure rise high into the sky

How did flesh and blood do it

Have failed generations gone

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

AGBOGBLOSHIE- 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

I see failure rise high into the sky

How did flesh and blood do it

Have failed generations gone

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, Oh earth

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

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

Bolga My Queen

In silent moments

Head bowed

We communicate one to another

Hanged under the tree

Tied to a feather

A torso of a bird swinging at their mercy:

The mercy of the calm soft winds

Untamed is this road that led on

On on to this be wilding sight

Who crafted these rocks?

One on the other

Flooding the area of standing trees

mi 1mar1 da mukma

bahati e inmiabih1 lo

mi 1s4l da mukma

bahati e inmiabih1 lo } 2

lo ny1 sera ele tiya tol y1

mi sola ya porba

yaya muterema gbo, Sing1 } 3

(why are you forcing me, Go away)

In Bongo not tango tanga

This great place in bolgatanga

Stones of dua tankui

That grows bigger with time

Just above the earth

Where your solid edges are magnified

Adored and remain

I leave your sweating pores

Amidst the smiles and hugs

Women on their motor cycles

That dominate the streets

And replace its aesthetic emptiness

In bongo not banga or tongo

I sit very close to the dusty path

La cárimε rising up like a huge wall

A whirlwind blowing at noon

At the centre of erected earth

Scattered miles away from each other

Dried grass at its top

And on the streets to bongo

Not tango tongo

In bongo not tango

Our lips will break at her touch

In lines alone that the tongue can count

How I yearn for your smock your boubou

Your air conditioned room at day

I yearn for your akala and koose

Going round your naked street

I sit by them on the street

Akutu and spaghetti on their tables

Laughter and smiles at the stranger from Accra

We watched the night sky in procession

As it matched on with our body clock

Oh my eyes will wish to see

Not the morning rounds for lunch

Nor the chase for ice blocks at the lorry station

Or a return to town

A return to purchase a broken tool

Or a missing bolt

The delay to pick our lunch

The disdain from eyes, its delay

The melt of ice blocks before its usage

The uncontrolled self that must be tamed

But I see their pretty little fingers

Surround us in the crowd

Testifying to our self-fulfilments:  

The water tank, its grandeur

The rush to join us for lunch

The kind and warm reception

Oh these pretty little fingers

How you went through the heat

My shear butter to buy

How I wondered how you are

Far far away my eyes can’t see

Only these fading memories

which brought you nearer

You who hide between the crevices  

Between the shadows of the rock

Beneath the cow dung and the soil

Lone the brushing of the air reveals

Tome bongo

Don’t hide your  brow in your bosom

Come like the cattle scratch the dust off the red earth

Even if with only a hind leg

I will bow in obeisance to your passing  

Oh that night under the tall trees

The night owl has passed

Its cool windy air flowed

Oh sweet night

Seize the cloth of time

And cast your spells

forever on the sleeping sun

Only a night made it all

Seeing the day break take it all

Glued to each other this unseen thought

To be together forever someday

Those sparkling eyes and dazzling smiles

A bed in time was laid

Prepared to be taken when their hands met

Sisters they were by a table shop

Colleagues they were from afar

The hot tea and indomine cooled the heart  

My being will embrace this smell

The smell of groundnut and millet

when in the bosom of your red abode

Zaana will grow her leaves

Even when it is hot dry and humid

And will walk on bare foot

Throughout Anaafu bisi

Teach us to speak like the man from Accra

Yaaba Mary will teach you at St. Anne

Her horses are already at the riverside

I pray they will drink joyfully

Here comes Bukomboko and Zaana

Oh daghters of Bolga my queen

Live long beautiful ones, live long

For where the heat is loudest

Thou have been left

Oh mighty standing legs

Huge like the elephant thigh

Weird how your branches twist

How they manage their unwelcome treat

Zaana sheds her leaves in the rains

Bukombokom, when it is dry, windy and humid

Each waiting her turn to grow her leaves

Each, her turn to shed it

After her sister has done it

Oh lover I leave in the morrow

And like the way I came in more sorrow

Not having time enough your face to stare

Deep down my memory lane

I yearn it was not as long a journey

A return only to see you

Bolga my queen I leave you

And Bongo Tankui not Tongo Tankui

mi 1mar1 da mukma

bahati e inmiabih1 lo

mi 1s4l da mukma

bahati e inmiabih1 lo } 2

lo ny1 sera ele tiya tol y1

mi sola ya porba

yaya muterema gbo, Sing1 } 3

The Stars and Moon

Where have all the stars gone

I asked the fading moon

Alone he lay on a bed of silent expanse

And a sleeping glowing pillow

Alone he shined for all

And none showed him even a smile

Of gratitude nor belonging

Alone the scary nights

The catcalls of the bats

Filled his memory all night

And raging waves his ears

Breathe thou continuously this freshness

While the hands stayed at my side

With this gaze into perpetual endlessness