It was a very funfull day on Easter Monday
April 1 this year as I and my friends paid a
visit at the office of a lecturer of History in
Imo State University Owerri Rev. Fr (Dr) P.C
Njoku. He is the chaplain of the Catholic
chaplaincy on that campus. It was in his
office in that famed and glorious worship
centre we met and ate and chat. From issues
about life, career, marriage, relationships,
politics, economy, literature, etc. It was
eclectic and porsche time.
And then a friend pointed at a piece poem
hung on the wall in that densely book-ish
office. So our discussions turned a literary
feast. Fr Anthony then told a story of how he
had visited Prof Chinua Achebe in his
Nsukka office in the year 1990. He said, 'It
was a shocking stockpile of books'. He said
that there were books there in thousands of
number but what amazed him most was
that ALL these were complimentary copies
of books written for or about Chinua
Achebe sent from around the world!
Then he said to himself that this man can
never die again. Even he looses his breath
he'll live. Then he wrote this poem entitled
DEATH HAS FLED published by the journal
Okike (founded by Achebe himself in which
he served as editor for many years). The
Poem.
DEATH HAS FLED
Courage!
Death,
has fled your neigbourhood,
never to return.
Were an academic epidemic
to descend on this dungeon,
it's mortal lashes,
will fear,
the hot vengeance,
of the Careful Midwife,
that delivered such plump babies
who bear your name.
Look,
See,
the new shine,
by every homestead...
dazzling in the sunshine,
fluttering with fresh feathers
of generous sacrifice,
frothing with new wine
poured in thankful libation
gorgeously smeared with red blood
of willing lambs.
Behold a new shine
a great ancestor is born!
Chinua,
Death has fled your neighbourhood
never to return.
#Poem adapted with writer's consent# God
bless those who came before us, bless us,
and bless those coming after us.