Texting: Series

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That morning when the shriek cry of mama
Pierced the peace of a weird dawn
Asueke stood by my bed
Shaking my legs with feverish hands
Beckoning me to rise
Her face furrowed in agony
In some meaningless whispers
She mentioned your name and said nothing more
But I knew whatever she has to say
Her silence is nothing good

So I lobbied my way to your hut
A crowd flared with tears gathered at papa's yard
What news had awoken the land
To sit here on their mat of dirge

Some with both hands balanced on opened mouths
Some heads bowed in defeated sorrow
But in the center of your room
You lie on your termite bed without head
Your skin still glowed in its youth
Even though you are dismembered

Your soul is hurried from us
To lurk restlessly yonder
They say they picked you along Buamba's path
The path beyond the stream leading to the groove
Your head was found also in a bag hidden among bamboo clusters
The evil maniacs had placed their cursed hands
Upon your head flourishing with dreams

They will never know
The ruin their wicked hands had done
On the destiny of this world
For every young soul that depart this world
Through the tragic exist into the transcendental glades
A part of the future dies unredeemed forever

Dunga!
The son of Atandi
You are that little bird
That will never learn how to fly
You are that little lion
That will never know how to roar
You are the lightening
That came unnoticed
Without thunders nor storms
You are warrior whose blade of valour was taken

Dunga like Dube, like Fosun,
Like the thousands of millions
Who all died in their prime
Is a victim of the gods of power
Those drunk from the gouge of wealth and plenty
Overflowing with the blood oozing from innocent skulls
Those overfed with the flesh of the oppressed
Who stole ballots to sit behind secured walls of lies
You are a victim and so are we
We did not start this war we are fighting

Dunga
I stand before you grave to remind you
Your father placed a knife in your coffin
And your mother a passel of gun powder
They said before you turn your back on them forever
And reunite with the world where you are bound
Fight everyone who had a hand in your death
Haunt them to make their world a hell
In their castles of peace
Break their bones
In their bars of wine
Burn their barns
Burry their homes in anger
Forever!!!

Find Part 4

Dunga! Dunga! Dunga!
How many times did I call you?
Do not wait
Until your bones become flakes of dust in its grave
Do not wait
Until your voice fades from our heart

Soon across the hills of years
You will be only a mystery living in our hearts

They said you'd sailed the great river
Never to return to the land of your birth
But your prints are still unwashed on the shore

Do not forgive the hungry hands that murdered you
Those cold hands of death that brought your dreams an abrupt end
Yes man is a frail being
But too many good people have died

And here we are in a world
Sinking into a furlong darkness
An eternal darkness of evil
We can't control the descent of death
We dread the hell that is to come
Nothing can redeem us that is within us

When will the dead avenge their death
When will peace be restored to this desperate world
O Dunga!
Do not sleep

I stand here by your grave without tears
Though my heavy heart is a shattered debris
I have no flowers to place over your eternal bed
No will to sing those songs that died when you died
I am here only to remind you

Dunga! Dunga!! Dunga!!!
Son of Atandi
Thrice I call you
Turn awhile from your dance of immortality
Stare at humanity from your cloudy palace

Do not roam the parches of the elusive realm
You don't belong there
Your mother sits by her hearth every morning
Old, broken and childless
Her sagging head bowed in defeat

Atandi, your father longs to be with his father too
For no man has suffered a greater woe
Than a man who knows the grave of his children

So join not in the frenzy dance of the dead
Do not sing in the solemn assembly of the ghost yet

Come back to the tears of your parents
Of your friends and loved ones
Bring justice to the pains of our troubles
Avenge your death
O Dunga!
Son of Atandi

Fate has led the way

Over many a thousand hills

To become an hermit in a hut

In this forbidden enclave

Neighboured by vipers

Brothered by scorpions

My spirit dampened

As fences of expectations crumbled

What exactly is this unfolding?

Why is life humming in hoarse tones

Too deranged for my learning lips

Why is time pacing down an isle

Too jumbled for my aching feet

They say good things can be

Shrouded with rags of dirt

And some meats served on golden platters

Are better left for rover dogs

What then are the treasures

Hidden in this raging of towering fears of mine?

However, a weird satisfaction

Like a sailing dew settles in my heart

I'm might be at the threshold

Of certain excitements yet unknown

Maybe one day

I might love the adventures of seclusion

I have thrown myself into

The arms of the uncertainty

I can only pray the stale prayer of a long wayfarers

Benue better be a blessing

The day has finally broken from its ripened shells

I have come with my bags of dreams

And my burdens of hope across my shoulders

It's not my intention to let down my arms

In the fight of survival

Until I clip the wings of the wind

And make plain the heights of frustration

Brecht at sundry times once wrote

A kola I will like to chew my own way

"If I fight I may win

If I don't I have lost"

My feet are baptised in of this distant dust

My boots longs for washing

Even my dress tattered by the anxiety of the road

Could rob me of some warm greetings

The gods of my belly are craving without apology

The daily sacrifices that must lie butchered

In the sacred alters of the mouth

So I set out to measure my fate

And that was the beginning

Of a story told only in gay silence of a voyager

One woman at the end of that brownish road

The madam of the highly patronized canteen

Called with dignified greetings

“Oga Corper... Corper Corper!

Teach my sons

I will give you food for free

And some money when every old moon is young again”

Another man, a man of many names

Rich men are see in wavering colours

In respect to the uniform of intelligence

Says to my gladdened ears

“Teach my girls

I will pay you handsomely”

For a moment I danced

The blessings my father is paving a path in the unfamiliar wild

I forgot that the mouths sometimes says things

Beyond the workings of eager hands

That just as the green uniform excites me

It also engenders an euphoric rhythm

Among the ambitious desires of the strangers too

It was not far before long

That I realised that some promises are uncertain prophecy

Of what we all desire

Those promises which sound so sweet

Are often made but never kept

Watch out for part 7

I go edit am later...me gat no time now.....

My sail was calm on the shoulders of the night

I stood on the wings of those quiet hours

I saw visions of bright horizons

Of vast hinterlands waiting to be explored

I am the wanderer from western walls

Whose home is waiting to be discovered

Seeking for brooks in arid lands

For fountains in the savannah

For rainforests in the desert

Lost was I and willing to be forever lost

In the magic of my dreams

But some dreams are too big for one night

So God gives all a life time

When the morning crows knocked at my door

To announce the arrival of the dawn

I rolled on the bed from which my coverlets had fallen

Slowly I opened my eyes

Behold it was my first morning in the stranger's land

The winter cold breezed in

I said my simple prayers slowly

As my father had taught me to always do

A spark of hope was kindled

A feeling drowned me not to worry

Thoughts of how far I had come caught up with me

The night before this was on a cliff 10 hours away

There my father had touched as I gently laid

And he told me “Son

Life is a mist with cloud of obscurity

Sometimes you get lost to find your way in it

It is not a crime to dream

To hope for heights above the clans of eagles

The dream which dies with time

In the hearts of fools

Blossoms with season like buds of sunshine

Go and become all you are born to be

And when things are dark and hopeless

Find time to kneel in prayers

For with that you can conquer the world”

Father is a great man

A mystery I fear he too might not know

I thought of last night and smiled

A moment with drunks and sloths

May be the little fun a traveller needs

A funny world peopled with clowns indeed

Whence comes this cold assuaging me

Even under my burdening cardigan

The warmth in it is like a freezing ice

I do not wash my teeth that morning

Just like I have done many mornings of this life

I only scooped the water over my kinky hair

And brushed it down my dry face

Ready for what will unfold with the rising sun

Today I will be alone in my room

Not to share my bed with another I hope

Soon again I was on the road

Down a hilly slope

With my new boss on his burdened bike

I had a huge mattress across my laps

Lying restlessly between my boss and I

Slow and steady we went

Silently I prayed again for protection

As his bike pierced through the road

Like hunger roving wolves

The wind came to feast upon the bed

Pulling me backward from the iron cushion

I pulled back to remain glued on a spot

But like a straw in a marauding tempest

I was thrown off the bike with no second thoughts

Off like a soldier thrown from his conquering horse

I went down unhindered

From the dust where I laid

An ocean of anger boiled in me

A fire of rage smoked my reddened eyes

I blamed my boss of course

And the federal government

And every other thing but me

I've not come to this land

To carry such a burden on a legless bike

A man walking down the same valley

Looked at me and wondered why I fell

I thought his moving lips we say something kind

Like people always do from the world where I came

Instead he said I should stop being weak

After all I was trained by soldiers in camp

Seriously! Men are mean

I looked at him in disgusting disbelief

"What are you saying sire?

I was trained by soldiers. So what!

Besides, my training isn't to carry mattress

On a cold morning

On a mourning bike

On a rugged road"

That episode ended with simple sorry

We soon hit the road again

This time with the foam tied

Balanced in the grip of my strong hand

We rode as minutes hissed by

Into another bush the bike turned

And there stood a lone building

Only one person lives here for 3 years

A big house of 5 rooms

And only one ghost dweller lives in one

Someone who seldom comes home

I was to be his new neighbour

Of a truth, I was to live alone

In a secluded forest

I opened the room to see what fate has in store

No bulb, no switch, no socket, no wiring, no electricity!

I checked my phone to make some calls

No network and no hope of it coming on

No water even to cook me a meal on a good day

What!

And yes there alone in that bush will I stay

As fate brought across hills and city

To embrace such a humbling compromise

I looked at the almost fallen structure

With huge cracks and holes

That will let in not just snakes

But even a hungry thief

With puzzling fears and questions in my heart

I smiled and spoke a thousand words in silence

***********part 6**********

Overlook typological errors.... It a hurried post that will be edited properly when compiled

"This same place where out path did cross

We will meet again

There and then

We shall drink the liquor of lust

Down to the dreg will they roll down your naive throat

I, even I will make you a man"

The hour had just taken a puzzling twist

Yet she left "unbothered" by my confusions

Have I come to serve my father's land

Or am I at the devil's table

Where the lots of the world was once traded

Which way leads home

When on earth can man say he is truly free

O, the horror of my first night

The burdened bones

The wreckages of an oppressed heart

The cold turned flesh

The drained bottles at the feet

Of masters of broken homes

The flakes of consumed cigarettes

The lust in the eyes of strangers

The friendship the world had offered

My presence in this gully of death

Still I stood perplexed awhile

Should I just go down the windy way of hell

And see the horizons

The treasures of those addicted to its chains

Or should I follow my pilgrimage route

The path where my soul had found rest indeed?

Sometimes in life

I sit at this crossroads

Wondering which way is best an adventure for a young man.

I looked at my boss with his emptied bottles

Three bottles vanished before his lips

Yet he still enjoys the long dance

in the deserted hall of addiction

"Sir, I'm tired

Where will I sleep tonight?"

"Emmy, relax

I will soon be done

We shall soon be going home"

And not until the bar is deserted

Not until the last singing bird

Had kissed the sky goodnight

Not until silence descended upon the world

Exposing even strained whispers

Not until night arrived in her full fretful stature

That this man could realise

That long had been my journey

Across the Niger to the banks of Benue

And my weary bones must rest

Once again we hit the road

His rickety bike rend the night of her crown of silence

Strip the witchy hour of her garment of peace

A thundering cry from a frustrated bike

The fear that a drunk man rides that thing

Upon which I'm boarded

Filled me with gooseflesh rather than the thrills of its speed

I feared we might crash on the harmattan harden soil

Or overturned by unconscious recklessness

Into the bottom of a canal

Or at least missed home

For as you may well know

That to a drunk man

Everywhere, anywhere and no where is home

For the heart often fear beyond necessary

It is that part of our lives that keeps us alive

As I alighted from his rough drive

A ease of relief escaped through my nostril

He showed me my room for the night

And welcome me to his home

My head had suffered the fate

Of a drum in the hands of many a heartless drummer

My legs are weak like though I had travelled on a shores of ice

But at last

All my weariness I can lay to rest

Although the night at been sandwiched

With encounters with beasts and beings

The bed, this bed

Will be my comfort

And redeemed all my exhausted nerves.

In peace I lay me down

Soon I was fast at sleep

And the raging day came to a noiseless calm

Stay connected for part 5

A dusty path had led me here

Across the Niger to the banks of Benue

Forgetting the miles and mountains behind

This travelling feet of mine now trample red strange soil

Down the cliff of this unknown I jumped

Obeying the clarion call

My bag across my shoulders

My dreams across my mind

Though I had forgotten how to smile

I can still hear the prayers of mothers

And feel the spirit of my fathers

Unto to you this foreign land I come

I've heard tales of you

Told by hunters and travellers

Behind the hearth of our grandmothers

And sometimes at the market square

They said you are that night tiger

That steals the head of the careless

You are also the morning angel

That bless the fortune of orphans

You are whom you chose to be to any

Each time I gaze at this green kaki

This symbol of intelligence

That reminds me of our crumbling nation

I wonder really which story to believe

What lot fate will allot me

I went with the noiseless wind from the west

Unannounced, unnoticed and unknown

The man you sent to bring me (driver)

Left me at the mercy of jackals at the crossroads

Remember I had no home in this place far from home

I watched a yonder tree

Wondered if that will be my bed for the cold night

I search the sky and saw darkness coming

But why is His phone not going through

I called and called but he could not hear

Is he lost like I am too?

I won't forgive this if the open field becomes my room tonight

And even in that uniform

The strangers passed in silence

Each minding his business

"O God, what have I done to deserve this?

The exile in a world with whistling hostilities

Is more than I can bear

I'm famished!

Hear there language

Like the rantings of frustrated stammerer

I'm hungry

My body aches for the want of rest

My eyes deemed for the want of sleep

Let this cup please pass me over"

Then my phone rang sending vibes through my veins

It was my new boss

The one to host me for the night

Not until two hours passed

Before he rode in on his motorcycle

That motorcycle must have served him for years

With its rickety appearance

And the wailing confusions in its sounds

I can almost hear it pleading for mercy

From a master already too big for its back yo carry

The cold breeze had plundered my flesh

Hunger had ravaged my bowel

Beyond the repairs of a bowl of yams

Yet he came with his expected toga of apologies

I know he will say I'm sorry

But what's that to me

Give me food and bed in a warm room

And let me kiss the night and dream of home

***************Story continues later*********

The Lingering Scent of Fakindi War

"During the days of Akimba
Things were different
Boys travel down to the sacred groove to become men
With the blessings of their mother hanging around their neck
They eat the hearts of the leopards
And drink with the skull of lions

"They were prepared to terrify death
To laugh at the booming of guns
To survive when the daggers are drawn

"They were the heroes who fought in Fakindi war
Those born in our days still met the flakes of clashing spears
We heard the sound of clashing swords
The spark of war reached us after her heroes are all gone
They are the giants who rose and fell in battle
Who are born only to one end
To stand and die defending their people

"How can we forget the tradition
Of the heroes of that war
Their broken bones and lost graves
Are the sacrifices the earth cannot ignore
Their ghosts is the wind of bliss that blows across our world
That steadies our boats and readies our guns

"The great Fakindi himself was the brother of Akimba
Akimba our king joined his brother against nine kings
Those days when Akimba danced in the rain of guns
The days when my father, Batuyi bathed in the blood of our enemies
When Fakindi became the smoke that oceans cannot quench
The days of life
The days of death
The days of great groanings
The days when we still knew who we were
The days when men were men
The days when our pride was bravery
I still met the scent of that tradition
Lingering on the mountain top
Aching to survive but hastily dying out

"Time has changed my son
The next lorry that will pass the street Tansa
Will carry our sons away
The defender of our race
To lost them in places far away from home
Far from their own origin
Where they will be beggars all their lives
Begging the same people
Who once placed chains in the ankles of their fathers
Who stole their lives from them
The days when life is life are over

"But Kante, my son
It is your destiny to know who you are
Where you come from
The stories of your fathers
What you are
To know from which hole of the earth your ancestors sprout from

"You will go to the sacred groove to learn
How not to die
To walk in moonless hours with confidence
To answer with your guns not your legs when the lions roar
To become a man, a true man of Tansa"

Bambili voice sometimes has magic in it
But this night, it was the liquor of wisdom and silence
Flowing from his bleeding heart
Over an unredeemable past
Over a civilization buried in the grave of antiquity
That strained the air with a tinted smell
Making me feel what I couldn't feel

He stood with his eyes on the road
And hands on the door
I took off the leather sack
The door closed behind us
Tansa street lies beneath our feet
As we manoeuvre our way through a starless moment

The night was cold and quiet
Too dark that my little hunting lamp struggles with blindness
Soon we were on the path leading into the forest
Bambili suddenly came to a halt
Looked round and beckoned me in still whispers

"Kante, I must leave you now
From here you will find the route into your fate alone
A man will meet you as you go
But don't be afraid my son
I can only father a child
I can't father a man
You must be a man to survive alone"

Bambili took two steps backward
And then started walking away
Leaving me along in the palace of death

I wonder if this is truly happening
Or it's just another dream like the ones I had about Amanda
Few days ago when I saw her walking away from home
I checked the content of the bag I was carrying
A white wrapper was folded in it
With some kola, cowries, razor and two black strings
I wonder what all these are meant for

I stood there alone in dark
I had to make my first choice
Either to hurry back to the safety of my home
And jump into the arms of my mom
And remain a child forever
Or walk on into the dark with a trembling feet too weak to stand
Defiling the threat of beast and death
And become the man I see in Bambili
Fearless and loving
I stayed minutes at the crossroads of choices
Pondering which way to turn

Then one simple step I took forward
One more and yet another
Soon I was on my way into a realm I do not know
To do what I don't know
To meet people I don't know

And as I pressed into the sacred groove
I forgot death or life
I forgot Amanda and Tansa
I forgot Kante or Bambili
All that matters was to just keep going
With my little hunting lamp
And my leather bag
As my only companions into my own future

© Olatuja Oloyede

To be Continued on Monday
Read previous parts

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This is Destiny

When it was three days
Before Sosa festival
Bambili invited me to his room
He sat on his old wooden bed
The one his own fathers had sat
Wiping the mouth of his gun

When I entered, he didn't look up
He only pointed to a leather sack
Hanging idly on the wall
And began to speak so slowly
Like someone afraid of his own words

"Kante, in that sack is your destiny
Tonight you will follow me to the sacred groove
Where you will dance in the great circle
You will drink life from the pot of wisdom
You will see what the eagle cannot see from the cliff of the wind
You will know what only men should know"

Too many thoughts crossed my mind
Like never before, I was scared
Scared of the night, of the forest, of Bambili
I felt lost in a life I doubt if it's ever mine

"Are we going to hunt again?
It's three days to Sosa
When no one must walk the street at night
When banters of lovers are only done in whispers
Why the groove at an hour
Forbidden by the beginners of our race"

Fear pounded in my heart
Panic crept out of my mouth
For I know Bambili says only what he will do
And tonight, it was not an opinion
It was an order

I thought he expected me to just obey
But he continued anyway
And I saw sadness in his eyes
I heard fears in his voice
I knew whatever it was Bambili was hiding
It was bigger than him
He has a heart beating in harmony with his dead fathers

"My son, you know little of who you are
But tonight you will know better
Because this night you will become a man
If you must bear my name when I'm gone
If you must stand for the course of your people
You be initiated into manhood"

I looked at his furrowed eyes
A man whose heart is stiffen by too many war
Whose eyes had seen kings beg to be spared
Who had bathed in the blood of hundreds
Scattered on the plains of history

Then I remember that morning when we sat on a fallen tree
As the dew announced the birth of another day
It was a quiet dawn after a long fruitless hunt

He told me how he was initiated into adulthood
He had to cross nine hills with other boys
Because not even the mountains should stop a man of Tansa
He swim across Omiri river
Because no river can stop a determined soldier
He slept seven night in the groove
At the mercy of wild dogs and leopards
To learn that fear is a prison in the mind
Where all cowards live or die
He fired his first gun into the wild
A man should never turn the mouth of death to his people

But I could only think
Of nine hills, seven cold nights, the great Omiri river
I was so afraid that I wanted to run
Far from Bambili, far from tradition, far from Tansa
I wanted to run to where Amanda had gone
Hidden from the clutches of culture
From this trepidation in my spirit

"Kante, this is destiny
From which there is no running away
It is the fate you carry since birth
It is the blood that runs in your vein
You are my first and only son
You alone will wade the sword of Tansa when I'm gone
You are the defender of this land
Culture don't give you many choices
It only tells you how you should live
And those who chose to ignore this
Will father vagabonds forever alien to themselves
Beggars who will cloth themselves in the rags of strangers
Who will see themselves through the eyes of another
Who will be defined by those who wonder who they are"

"Will I climb the nine hills?
Swim through the great river?
Sleep seven nights in the dark dangerous wild
Hunted by beasts and death?

"Son, it is when you learn to stop asking too many questions
That you begin to understand who you are
Time has changed and the days like mine are gone
Like an antelope who escaped the trap of lions
After straying into the den of death
Those of us who knew these days
Cannot forgive the betrayal of times and seasons
May be it is our fate to be lost
Like the peacock who with good mind
Dances to display its beauty to the world
Only to end in the soup of its owner

During the days of King Adimba

Continue Reading tomorrow

Had a pretty busy day... Had to squeeze this out from my diary...

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Read previous parts

Idylls of Love___Part 8: (Are these not the Signs of Time)

You were the one I saw on the other side
Walking away from home
Pressing into the depth of the unknown
I called but you didn't answer
I scream but you didn't hear
Your gaze was fixed on the road
Walking as far as your legs can carry you
Your hungry legs devouring the road in angry desperation
You don't even look back at the world you're left behind

How do you cross the great Omiri river
Which is the only wall fencing the great Tansa land
No bridge, no boat and her banks are wide apart
Too deep too large to swim across

I stood bewildered
Watching as you fade into nothing

I collapsed into the pool of my own tears
Weeping my sadness into the flowing river
Hoping Omiri herself will reach out her hands of compassion
But explanation not console is what I need

Amanda, where do you go in such a hurry
That you forget to leave a world behind
For those who cared about you
That you refuse to answer your name

I sat on a rock at the bank of Omiri
Drenching my brow with a stream of sorrow
My heart drown in pain

Then a strong voice came out of no where
Startling me out of sleep
It was mama calling me to take out the calabashes
An heavy rain had started

So it was just a dream
Which manoeuvred out my loneliness
As I lay on my mat thinking of you last night
And I wish your going to the city too was a dream

It rained all night
Thunder and lightening kept beating the plate of the sky
Reminding me of judgement and justice
The wicked will quiver at its roarings
The children will shiver as it noising flashes in the thick dark clouds
The wise will lay quietly with questions unanswered
What kind of rain is this?

After the last cock crow
And the morning flaunt its splendour on humanity
Omiri, the river cutting through many farms
Is overfed with the rain that fell overnight
Its banks can hold no more
So she stretched her territory beyond her natural boarders
To the road impeding those going to their farms

Even the great Ogoy tree
The one rumoured to be the house of malevolent spirits
Had fallen into Koye's farm
The thunders had dug out its root
As if its searching for the secret of its power
Yanking out its foundation out of frustration
Like a fruitless thief with no treasure to loot
As if challenging the certainty of his fame

The rain continued to drizzle in the morning
Many worried if the annual 14days rain had begun
The last days before the next month
The days that clears the busy path
For Sasa festival to have a safe entry

We will be trapped in our homes
Eating roasted yams with palm oil
Beast will freely walk the forest without the fear of the hunter
Birds will boast with pride without the fear of the falconer
Fishes will bath in their home without the intruding hook and line
The days of weird peace and silence

But I wondered if these were not signs
Which marked your departure
If heaven had not sent her own tears
To accompany mine as it sink into the womb of the earth
If these were not pointers to a new phase of dryness and loneliness

To be Continued Tomorrow

Make sure you read other parts... In fact, you can't understand part 8 if you didn't read part seven

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Idylls of Love ___Part 7: (Called You at the River but You Did Not Answer)

That day you left
Night crawled slowly out of its cave
Casting its wings of darkness on the world
Invoking the wickedness enshrined in humanity
But the elegance of the full moon
Gracing the glades of heaven
Brought life and light to us
And I wondered if that same moon
Was a guild to your feet
Heralding you into that distant realm
As you find your way in the labyrinth of time

As I lay quietly on my mat
The noise of gay children knocked at my door
The fantasies of childhood parried through my window
Bidding me to join in the evening dance
I know by now
They will cluster around the feet of the elders
To hear the tales of how the world began
The markers of our own identity
The mystery behind the formation of our race
The legendary of the bygone days
The pride and the taboos of our people
Why the tortoise had a broken back

Like mama once told me
Never stay by the road when the cloud gathers
Never eat at the doorway
A pregnant woman should not visit the stream under a hot sun
Because the denizens of yonder realm roam the universe at noon
This is the wisdom that the night brings to us

But that night when you left for the city
The world suddenly become a strange place
Even the company of others frightens me
The earth is unappealing without you

Yam tasted bitter in my mouth
This is not just loneliness
It is a funeral in my heart
Mourning your absence
And for some weird reasons
I wondered if you were save
If the city cast roses around your feet
Welcoming you with open arms
If you will one day return home
I silently prayed for you for that is all I can

I was awake when the noise of the children died from the street
When each lamp and foot find its way back home
When neighbours greeted goodnight
When only the shrieking of weird birds
the howling of wild dogs
The noise of crickets
And the songs of frogs
Are the only intruders of a blissful time
Piercing the silence of the night
When mama placed a bar between the two irons fastened behind our door
The very last act of everyday
A symbol that the day is done

I didn't move or shake
I just lay in silence with a heavy heart flooded with too many thoughts
A heart bruised with several imaginations

Then suddenly, I found myself
Like a stray ghost
Wandering in strange forest
Searching through the layers of dark trees

Then I saw you walking down the path that leads to the stream
With a determined gait
Like a wayfarer on a journey of no return

I called you but you didn't answer
You didn't even turn to see who knows your name in the darkness
I hurried after you
But you vanished into thin air
Yet I followed your trail towards the great river
For that where the aura of your presence bids me

At the great river
You were already at the other side
Still walking farther and farther from home
Pressing into the heart of the unknown
The gloom of a starless sky will not frighten you
The death hidden in the wood will not discourage you

The little smiling moon of the night
Tells me of your fading presence
I knew it was you walking away
Amanda it was you walking through this darkness
The beads around your waist betrays you
Your carriage reveals who you are

To be Continued Tomorrow

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Read previous parts to understand this poem

Idylls of Love___Part 6 (Fading Only into Memories)

Days grew like grass between us
On the lawn of distance time created
The edges of love become blunt
That lorry still raises dust of memories in my mind

Your name is crested in my heart
Your presence is frequent in my dreams

Is it not like yesterday

When destiny made our path cross

When we first met

When the dew of our morning is beginning to find its ways across the world of men

I remember that innocence you had in your smiles

The charm that hung around your neck

The beauty that dangles with your waist
The honey that flowed from your smooth tongue

Yes, it's just like yesterday

Yes, that night during the search of Sohun
I was still seven and you just five
You look frail and I fain to protect you

Sohun was that great palm wine tapper

Whose fame had gone over hills and rivers

Into many villages beyond our own
His weird climbing skills

Was rumoured to be given him by spirit beings
He was feared to be in possession of some mysterious powers

And truly, there was magic in the way he walks and talks
Yet he was a man who never knew true happiness

After four days of combing the forest
We saw his body lying lifeless

At the mercy of worms and vultures
A man of honour lying on undignified bed of death
How he got there was a puzzle
He was surely not murdered
For such things are unheard in our world
We are the oracle of Peace

Some said it was his debt that killed me
Some said his doom was in his strength

Some said he sold his soul for fame and power
He took too much of fresh wine out of frustration
And slumped into that blurry realm only visited by drinkers
He rested rudely on a log hiding a viper
Which stung intruders without mercy

It was during this search I first met Amanda
We stayed in their house

We the men of the village

Though I was too young to be called a man then

But I'm the heir to Bambibi, my father

Who is the warlord of the village

And I've been regarded as a man since I was born

Your hut stood close to the forest
And you and your mother took care of us

Throughout the search

Bringing us food, water and wine

I could hear my heart
Beat twice faster each time I saw you
And each time our eyes met
I shiver like a naked man
Hiding in an abyss of ice

That was the beginning of a long tale
That will be told years after we are no more

The search was over and the dead lay to rest
I always stopped by to see you
Sometimes I waited at length
By the path that leads to the stream
Hoping you will come by with your pitcher
To get some water from the stream
And you often did

Not because you ran out of water
But because you knew I will be there waiting

I breath each moment only to be with you
Each day was incomplete without you

I loved you that I hated to be with any other
We enjoyed the ecstasy of those moments

Only to be startled out of the dreams that come with childhood
Only to be yanked and drifted apart
As you descended into the oblivion of the city
A tangible experience gradually faded into memories

Twenty years has gone by now
Hope kept its flames burning bright

And it's just like Yesterday since you left

Twenty years since you've gone
Leaving behind your root
Drifting away from your ancestral origin
I wonder what the other side has done to you
Which seems to have twisted your sense of reasoning
And clouded your sight of judgement
That you don't see where the flowers of happiness spring from any more

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Watch out for part 7

To be continued tomorrow

Idylls of Love___Part 5: It's Your Weeping Face I Can't Forget

Even when you disappeared in the distant mist

Vanishing like the smoke into the air
And the dusts raised by that lorry
Settle on the leaves again
My face were still glued to the road

The beginning of my long wait

At the path leading into a pathless world

Briefly, I hope it's all but a momentary dream
That you were still in your father's hut in the village
Waiting the same way you have always waited

For the arrival of the evening

Our friendship is that coverings that shields us from the world
When the work of the day's work is done
Alone we are left to dream
To swing in the marauding wind of the valley

To sing with twinkles in our hearts
We wander briefly into the future with glee
In the world created only in our minds

But alas, the time has come

When all these melodies must sway into silent hummings

When destiny is deciding its own course
It does not bother asking about our opinions

Tears well up in my eyes
But I was too young understand

Why my heart bleeds this much

I tried walking home
But the strength sustaining these aching heart

Hidden within my flesh are gone

My feet are afraid of walking farther away from you too

I struggled home with a sluggish gait

When I staggered passed your hut

I saw mama (your mother) outside
Pealing from a heap of cassava

Talking warmly with a friend
And I wondered if she can't feel
The hole burrowed inside of me

The pain your departure caused me
I could not bear looking twice that way
For I see your face in hers

I hurried home
Not sure of where is home anymore
For it was you who made it home to me
And anywhere you are
Will always be home to me

For sure my sisters will mock my foolishness
And my friends will scorn this blind feelings
But I can't survive this alone

I need you always by my side

The long days of my loneliness has just begone

Yet, little do I know

That the embers of my loneliness will spark into years

And years into decades

Slightly I pray for your return
But I know your going is a wish we both had

A dream we both dreamt

A prayer our innocent heart both prayed

In the dawn of our long lives

You are the young bird flapping its wings across an hostile sky

Pushing through the cloud magnificent cities
To have education
To speak the white man's language
To be like Baba Tikolo's son

The only doctor from our village

But it's your weeping face
Your waving hands
Your nostalgic heart
And your last question
That I can never forget

And these tears still running down my eyes

Began the very first time you left

Sunday is a day dedicated for rest.... So continue reading on Monday. Make sure you subscribe to stay connected.

Make sure you read the preceding parts to understand this story ok...

Idylls of Love ___Part 4 (Has Time done this Injustice?)

"I've heard too many weird stories
About the yonder cities
Furnished in the empty insecurity of civilization
Peopled with men begging to be reunited to their origin
Men tossed in the wind of frustrations
Always on the move
Straying farther away from the source of their identity
The essence of the African soul
Never knowing the bliss that comes with the dawn
Or the satisfaction that comes with the dusk
Forgetting the melodies the flying birds carry in their talons
Full of many opportunities
A bribe to the injustices of history

But since you are a dreamer
I hope you find greener grounds on the other side
I hope it rains are in your favour
And its shines lead you
Only to the carven of fulfillment

Be watchful my friend
In that strange land
Let pride lead you into the future
And may the spirit of your fathers guild you into the unknown"

The lorry and its noise came to halt
Alas you must hurry in

We will be together in your dreams
You will hear my whispers in your heart
I will never leave the realm of your thoughts

I know too well
That the tears that now flood with ease
Down the alley of your face are mine
For we do not know how to endure
The thousands of kilometers that now perch between us

I shiver with you as you climbed into the lorry
Pushing your ways to the back roll
I still remember so clearly
How your gaze was fixed on me
But not just on me
But the home you also left behind

This was who I saw in you then?
A poor little child
A traveller into the unknown
With hopes as the bracelet with which you created the future

As you waved back from the back seat
I wonder if that is the final goodbye you will say
If this road that leads you
Into the hinterlands of a distant world
From the world you once hold so dear
From the people you once cherished
Will one day bring you back
To those who you once loved so much

What awaits on the other side?

I hope the pastures are green
I hope the rivers are clean
As it is fancied to be
I hope little Amanda will be accepted
In the land her sail is now bound?

One thing did not fade as lorry vanished
The innocence on your harmless weeping face
That will keep asking me the same question
I left on answered for a long time in my mind
Though it now only a shadowy image
I still look back on the long road
With tears and nostalgia
Praying you come back home someday

I sat again on that grass
For my legs was glued to the spot
Unwilling to carry me back home
It was you that made it home to me
The laughter on our happy faces
The innocence we shared
The glad evenings vanished by your presence

I can't help but ask
Has the course of time had done this injustice?
By taking you away from me
The only friend and sister I have?

Continue Reading Tomorrow

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Idylls of Love ___Part Two (The Last Tryst )

Could it be love
That placed your face everywhere I turned?
Could it be love
That planted your feet on the sea?
Could it be love
That printed your name
In the azure sky?

Many years have flown
Before our watching eyes
Like the sailing river's stump
Seasons have floated down the stream
Since that day when we sat down alone on the grass
As two innocent kids do
Unaware of the cruelty of this world
Unbothered by what the future holds
Little do we know
That that was a beginning of the end

The gods of destiny

Were pulling down the curtain

Casting an unpenetratable darkness between us

There will be no more dancing in the rain

No more running in the field

It was since dawn since we've been waiting
For the lorry which passes this route once in a week
To carry you away from the village
From the chirping of the morning birds
From the howling of wild dogs
From the ecstasy that accompany every night
From the only place we can truly call our home
Not too many kids live long enough
To see the glamour of the city
Their big houses and furnished street

When I said I will missed you
It was just the little strap
Covering my bleeding heart
Arching and itching
Unwilling to let you go

But I had love to really say
Those words you want to hear

I'd love to scream it on the hills

Causing the mountain to quake

I'd love to whisper it in your ears

How much I love you

I was not a coward in these things
But I struggle to believe my heart is pumping for only you
I see glitters on your face
And I remember that just last night
As the moonlight whistles its splendour on humanity
We sat beside your mother's hearth
Listening to her ancient tales
Of wisdom and insights

The moment we shared with other children in the stream
The ecstasy will feel pacing down the hilly paths
With wide stretched arms arching to pick the wind

The fresh tears welling up in my heart
Finally finds a way through the holes on my eyes
This time I could not hide it
As I always did each time you turn to leave

And your words
made the cold ran down my spines

It was your words
That startled me out of my dreams
You mentioned my name and said
"Kante, do you love me?"

I wonder with what courage you said that
Or how much that means to you
I am hurried down to this bridge
A bridge of love which I must cross
I stumbled upon the crossroads
The next course I take will determine my own destiny
I heard the echo of your voice
Resounding over a thousand times in my heard
"Kante, do you love me?"

Watch out for part three

Part One: From My Lonesome Bench of Darkness

What exactly do men call love in this world
Is it one of those wonderful treasures
That is now lost in the abyss of history?
Or one of those castles
That grows in the fantasies of our hearts?
Of one of those fortified cities
That had melted into debris by mortal wars?
Or one of those alluring gazelles
That briefly roam the meadows of time
And then strayed into the path of death?

What was it you did to me
That each time I catch a glimpse of you
My heart will skip and my bones will melt

The twilight brings upon her wings
A struggle in my mind
A conflict to get you out
Every dawn reveals the angel in you
I can't get rid of your face
From the carven of my thoughts

Why not tell me
The first day I met you
That you didn't come alone
You came with chains and made slave of my soul

You came with fetters
You put your gags upon my sight
I now miss the warmth of my bed
Peace and sleep
Take to flight from my lonely bed
Souring miles into the cloud beyond my reach

I now sit on this lonesome bench
Watching the starless nights
As they fade into oblivion

But this very night
I see you in the dark
Radiating with those smiles
That once drain my commonsense
Your voice becomes echoed in my ears
Beckoning me to get closer
So one step I take towards you
And then many others after
You are the apparition
Who stands in the dark
And though I'm aware of the dangers of the night
Closer still your smiles bid me

My lips began to move
Trying to whisper your name
The closer I get, the farther you were
When close enough I got
I reached out my hands
To touch the very beauty that calls me
From my lonesome bench of the dark
Quickly you faint into the thinnest air
Leaving me with the awareness
That I had shortly gone mad

And that is why I ask
What exactly is love in this world
Is it the madness that feasted upon our humanity
Or the faggots that fuel the only hell in heaven

Watch out for part two!!!

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