₦airaland Forum

Beautiful Coat and derision


If I return from this conscious drudgery, I will tell,
I will tell of a subjugation,
the spite and silent disdain
I will tell of the avoidance and the exclusives space on public bus.
I will tell of the common embarrassing quizzes and the suspicious looks
I will tell of the erratic change of mind and the one ninety degrees turn for my sake.
If I return, I will tell so many


If I return from this distant voyage , I will tell
I will tell how it is not over on some minds
The age-long differentiation,
the battle of supremacy,
the venom of little minds.

I will tell of the pretended smile,
the cynic look
the preference and denials,
The tanning of my coat is the jibing.
for some who are oblivious of geography

If I return from this second deliberate offering of my will
I will tell of my endurance and restrain, the quietude of avoidance
The sighs, the pain of rejection, the mockery the selective treatment and all
Of empty pew in church because of my coat,
Yes. Even in church where they aught to know better

If I return someday, I will tell.
They are not all so, there are few among many. "The coats blinds"
The true lover though few, excuse the myriad of coat haters
If I return from this journey of discoveries and curiosity
The long war of our diversity,
The silent unspoken lies of superiority
My coat is the jeer, same blood runs in our veins
Copyright © Macaulay Akinbami | Year Posted 2020

Kongi

Wired mortal from the English Art
Banished from his home, spotted from a distance
Noble amongst scrawling African inscriptions
First veneration of mystical minds
Take a bow, take a bow.

Obliterating deliberate disregard
From interrupters of our histories,
With trophies, allays a regret and loss
So little for so great a heart,
Take a bow, take a bow.

Liberal lord of limpid looks
Grand philosophy too many for little minds,
Art of African arts
Impenetrable obscurity to the impatient,
Take a bow, take a bow.

Entangled genus in the darkest harbor,
Found in a waste howling wilderness,
Left to die in the gaols like their many kills,
And death too weak, spewed him in his flowers
Take a bow, take a bow.

Scrupulous dexterity of the bearded laurel
Multitudinous nobility and countless soothing saccharine
A restoration of our dignity not celebrated, and un-sung.
Tyrannous candor engulfed intelligential
Take a bow, take a bow.

Obdurate at the palaces of murderers
Smiling at military cavalcades, the terror of comrades.
Where barrels pacify the wrangling of children men.
A beholding bluff like Ogun’s iron garb
Take a bow, take a bow.

Yea, the snow-like signature in scraggy form
Impresses nature’s validity on his authority,
Corroding flesh lacerate aptness from his brow
Gyrating orbits of unmatched intelligence
Take a bow, take a bow.




Invisible man from the “kongi” kingdom
Imposing trepidation on pharaohs in the jungle,
Brawny penchant where others retire,
On Lagos streets and London’s courtyard
Take a bow, take a bow.

Nibble in niggle, stripping rogues of honor
Loathing unsavory milk unlike sycophants
Discarding opulence to mediate for the poor
With no reward or crown in intention
Take a bow, take a bow.

Knack for wars with imperious monsters
A constant blustery of unrepentant “Vagabonds”
Dusk till dawn, yearning for Justice.
Crying still, for murdered motherland
Take a bow, take a bow.

And if he dies tomorrow,
As death to all must come,
His posture, a statue for ever,
On our minds and in those rulers of the jungle.
Take a bow, take a bow.

Dedicated to Prof. Wole Soyinka
Nobel Laureate 1986

http://www.voicesnet.com/displayonepoem.aspx?poemid=112220

Glib giant of the river borders
The discerning ears of the ancient river goddess
Where caravans cascade to unseen voices
And hills ruminating with man as man

Acumen that captured first instruction
From river “Nun”
Before wasting garbage in corruptible form
Impaired the source of livelihood

Brother blood spill, as they with Khaki gangs rumble for rights
Profligate bands in union vexed by demons
With arms like Pirates
Subdue our river for gain profitless

Ruined face-stretching pains like coverless carpet
A reserve of the gods, purloined by strangers
Of THIS color and THAT whom THESE employ
What damage! Without rescue from poverty

Insipid insanity of blood brothers who murdered
Innocent Wiwa in the struggle
For gain he would never reap
And the Masters watching the drama, laughing us to scorn

Eroded ornamental gift from the gods
And obliterating the daily reverence for His favor
Scratching the walls for war,
With the goodliness in our manner

Leave, we pray thee, let us make sacrifices to the gods
Who knows, he may be appeased
To cleanse our river of blood
Spewed by THIS, and THAT.


Indomitable spirit of brotherliness,
Speak from all nations of their ills
Where these tyrants in sleepless torture of their gin
In torment and pangs to their graves

Mingle not with suckers and rippers of our land
Despise their dromedaries and honor not the rogues.
Treat a thief like lepers
Banish them from homes of honor
Oust these moneybags void of dignity
Whose wealth were gains of wearied laborers,
Quarantine these gangsters and strip them forever
Let them to limbo flee and return never to shatter our joys.

Motherland, who begat these beast, heartless Jews of our Jewry?
Where are the laws of boundaries, which men regard in days of yore?
Covetous creeps from strange lands in amity with rebels to loot
And this they did, without a heart.

Odi, sons were shattered by wicked gunmen and mothers
Widowed by murderers of Aso’s “kill and go”
And fathers wailing deaths of their hopes and flower
Come and see, the bruises and scar on our backs

Tell me of our crime and bring the strong reasons
To the courts of sane men
Tell all the evils of banishments from inheritance
A cynosure of the evils of Colonial lords by “countrymen”

In that grave, at the river bank, chivalrous blood brothers sleep
A monument for seared conscience.
Nostalgia greets visitors at the bank of river “Nun”
Here, we sleep awake and wake asleep, watching invasions of thieves

Malady too hard to swallow, stinking sores on their honor
Oozes of gas abhorred by the buds of our tastes.
Lingers long and lingering still,
Where are the just of earth, and men of dignity?


Ecstasies will end and joys are but temporal,
Gather gold like dusts, they will watch you buried in shame
And the silver like heaps will turn to dross,
Diamond and brass will rot, but men of integrity will glow.

Oh that this hideous scourge would cease,
Our mothers still in rags adorn, sea creatures are gone,
And the fishermen estranged from their love
They die before our eyes, which suck the breast.

Karma, kindle just retribution to the destroyers
Herdsmen who from their thrones dictates our judgment,
For the innocent NINE whose body they mutilated
With cords of criminals, like lambs for sacrifice

And death, must once more summons
The most boisterous like him
Desired to become a HERO, lived a NERO, and Died a ZERO
So shall all, who masked in darkness to pervert justice

Restore, restore says the god, but heedless they go
And these Shell wearing a Chevron in amity with looters of our land
Removing landmarks and that none permitted
Go, enough is the evil, go and loot cassava in the west and rocks in the north.

Abomination beyond comprehension,
Destructions like never heard,
The south side emptied and mourners are many
On the west end side of our “Negritude”


Dedicated to the Poet Gabriel Imomotime Okara

"Kongi"

Wired mortal from the English Art W
Banished from his home, spotted from a distance
Noble amongst scrawling African inscriptions
First veneration of mystical minds
Take a bow, take a bow.

Obliterating deliberate disregard O
From interrupters of our histories,
With trophies, allays a regret and loss
So little for so great a heart,
Take a bow, take a bow.

Liberal lord of limpid looks L
Grand philosophy too many for little minds,
Art of African arts
Impenetrable obscurity to the impatient,
Take a bow, take a bow.

Entangled genus in the darkest harbor, E
Found in a waste howling wilderness,
Left to die in the Gaul like their many kills,
And death too weak, spewed him in his flowers
Take a bow, take a bow. WOLE.

Scrupulous dexterity of the bearded laurel S
Multitudinous nobility and countless soothing saccharine
A restoration of our dignity not celebrated, and un-sung.
Tyrannous candor engulfed intelligential
Take a bow, take a bow.

Obdurate at the palaces of murderers O
Smiling at military cavalcades, the terror of comrades.
Where barrels pacify the wrangling of children men.
A beholding bluff like Ogun’s iron garb
Take a bow, take a bow.

Yea, the snow-like signature in scraggy form Y
Impresses nature’s validity on his authority,
Corroding flesh lacerate aptness from his brow
Gyrating orbits of unmatched intelligence
Take a bow, take a bow.


Invisible man from the kongi kingdom I
Imposing trepidation on pharaohs in the jungle,
Brawny penchant where others retire,
On Lagos streets and London’s courtyard
Take a bow, take a bow.

Nibble in niggle, stripping rogues of honor N
Loathing unsavory milk unlike sycophants
Discarding opulence to mediate for the poor
With no reward or crown in intention
Take a bow, take a bow.

Knack for wars with imperious monsters K
A constant blustery of unrepentant Vagabonds
Dusk till dawn, yearning for Justice.
Crying still, for murdered motherland
Take a bow, take a bow.

And if he dies tomorrow, A
As death to all must come,
His posture, a statue for ever,
On our minds and in those rulers of the jungle.
Take a bow, take a bow. SOYINKA.



Wole Soyinka
Nobel Laurate English Literature 1986