GBOBALO

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

Gbobalo ogbanje

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 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.

like…

like a falling fleece
from within to nourish
your soul to clean
the table of anger to free

like tear drops
on the growing land
into my abode
the bright mountains above
the arid heart to water

like gay sparrow rhymes
on the tree top high
will wipe away all
my sorrowful heart tall

© Emperor Leander David

NB.

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

the single eye man

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.

Decision

The die is cast
The eye has seen
The ears to keep
The vibrating number
Be it sour with tears
Be it sweet with laughter
Will the hands stay close
To the marching feet?
Calmly goes the scores
Trembling hands cannot be
By the marching feet
Of a displaced mind

Good bye
You told me it was forever
You told me you’ll never leave me
How can memories fade out
Like a blue jeans, which has lost
its colour out of frequent washing
o don’t say good bye
else my heart faint when
sorrow nears my tent and
none to my rescue comes.

yet now is the hour that
I must say good bye

Soon I sail far across the sea
When you are gone
my winter will be long,
silence swallows the whispers
under the shady trees.
The night sky will need no light
friends would be gone
lovers could be lost
O please remember me
when you return?
You’ll find me waiting here.
Will you return to me?
O don’t say good bye.
O never say good bye.

So long

When I see you smile
My world looks bright
When I see you moody
My world looks dull
Something you cannot know
Something I cannot tell
It comes and goes
Your appearance and departure

You told me it was forever
You told me you’ll never leave me
How can memories fade out?
O don’t say good byeElse I die
When sorrow nears my tent
And none to my rescue comes
Yet now is the hour
That I must say good bye

Soon you will sail
Far across the sea
When you are gone
My winter will prolong
Silence swallows the scenes
The whispers under the shady trees
The night sky will need no light
Friends would be lost
Lovers could be no more

In saying good bye
My heart drowned
My dream shattered
My hope scattered
My path darkened
In the dark I sang
So long cariño
Despedida cariño

O remember me
When you return
Remember me
You’ll find me
Will you return?
O don’t say good bye!
O never say good bye!