ADIEU

When we met,
It was twilight at the open sea
The winds mated with the virile sky
-the progeny a starry night danced
copying our steps

When you spoke,
the dawn young and bright
Looked into your eyes like l did
and we took stock of your promises
believing all that strolled out your lungs

I will ride through the storm with you
Paddle alone if I have to, you said
My shoulders though bruised
on it you can always lean
You spoke as one cursed with immortality

but here I am teary
my head spinning as I recollect our untold tales
the dark rider has chosen to visit at your noon
Now I must learn to paddle unguided
and lean on the strength of your memories

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FOR IKARE THE LAND OF MY BIRTH

The land of violet skies under green rays of kola leaves
Where baobabs regal in ancient rituals of feast and harvest
her brown earth giggles at the touch of sensual rainfall

I am of the soil
brown like the terraces of Oke Alabojuto*
The spectacle of her masquerading Youth
Who sing of fire under the moonlight when the night is quiet
Fill the land with life and leisure

Mama would always sing of her twin mountains
enveloping the snaking rivers of the tribe
From whose bosom flows the fortune of the rainbow
after a mild rainfall

Of her aged hills whose green heads housed the cowherd
and his thatched hut from where he binoculars his white companions
Of her fertile soil of bronze layers
On whose head the farmer ploughs and awaits the sprouts of green things
Of weary traders that hawk under her luminous sun

The wolves that howl at night
When all eyes are widely shut
and the tired traveler is ducked under the silence of the night
howls for the leaving as for the dead

The land of steaming soup of Eleruju**
of yam pounded with the sweat of hefty men
But alas she roams the street of backwardness
and dances the steps of the macabre drum

Where are the kinsmen of our land?
Have they all gone yonder?
Leaving the children at the mercy of ravenous wolves
Marauding?
Wake up from your tragic trance
For my land wails for a son
a true heir of light and love
and brotherhood and freedom
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*OKE ALABOJUTO- the name of a popular hill in ikare Akoko strategic because it leads to the mean market
**ELERUJU- a kind of leafy soup popular with the Akoko people of On do state.
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Poems © Tope Akeredolu

Image: Amine Rock Hoovr via Unsplash (cropped)