What a life! A life well spent!! Done and Gone!!! The Sweet Sleep!!!! Our mouth is closed as the Iroko tree falls...Our eyes are winking at the library that has burnt down...Our feet is speaking to the great pass away...Our fingers is now learning the ways of the Hero...When tommorrow comes with her riddles; when we can no longer hear the voice of the teacher; when things fall apart and the center can no longer hold; when the ways of man becomes the ways of the ant; when we blame the kite and also blame the chicken; when people begin to gather in the moonlight because of the moon; when people now gather because of hunger; when things is no longer at ease because brother now fear brother; when the lizard can no longer praise and pride in his acrobatic skills; when the young cow now refuses to watch how the mother-cow chews the grass; when the sun begins to rise from the West and sets at the East; when the South wind begins to blow from the North; when we cross over the river to listen to the wisdom of our Hero...only for the Angel to tell us that our Hero is in his paradise with his Maker...What a life? The tree that dances yesterday dies tommorrow; the river that sings today dries tommorrow...Is it true that Chinua Achebe is no more? Is it true that the father of the pen has left his book? Is it true that the Eagle in the Iroko have left his throne? Chinua Achebe is dead? What a life! A life well spent!! Done and Gone!!! ~ By Hillary Oparaodu