ON MY FATHER’S DEATH
It is said of Yeats I think
That
What instruments we have tell us the day he died was bleak and cold
Well then the day you died,
‘Twas a roaring storm
That shook the foundations of the entire offshore platform
And made men at sea pray to God to spare them
When an iron structure with roots in the sea bed
Waved in a cruel waltz that made the hair on your head stand
With the anemometer pirouetting in an eye boggling spin.
Yet in me I could not connect it
Till a phone call the next day to say
"Prof. don mud"
Marking my entry into another phase of existence
Some insist it was my initiation to manhood
Was it?
All I knew
As I tried to find the pictures
To understand it with
Was that
Daddy was dead.
©2001 Dotun Adejuyigbe
Like the vulture I wait like the eagle to fly
Like the vulture I wait
Like the eagle to fly
High into the skies above I’ll fly
Far above places we’ve seen
To places I’ve dreamed
There’s so much I’ve not seen
But wait they will
Every day I live
With my past that’s been
Make up my future that will be
I will dine with Kings
I will dance with Queens
I’ll build a castle the sky to touch
With the lord by my side
to be my torch
Like the mountains I stand
In my world to plan
So much to do I’ll say again
But time once lost we can’t regain
I know one day I’ll leave this place
For a place so high the skies displace
But after me my works on earth remain
And every where you go my hymn you’ll hear
On the lips of the saints as they watch at night
Like the vulture I wait
Like the eagle to fly.
©2000 Kunle Adejuyigbe
THE ROSE AND THE WIND
Yesterday
The rose danced with the wind
Many thought it ridiculous
What! with the restlessness of the Wind
And the placid abiding of the Rose
But O, the sight remains in my mind still
Of an improbable dream come true
For it was just a day ago
When the ubiquitous, shapeless,
Formless Wind
Together with the beautiful, shapely, scented
Stationary, thorny, Rose
Hand in hand and
Heart to heart as only they could
Yes it was yesterday
When the skies lent the moon for lights
While the stars sprinkled the earth showers of golden sparks
Then, the Rose,
Danced with the Wind.
© 2007 Dotun Adejuyigbe
CHANGE?
Shall all arise?
In one language speak
Shall color no more
Be the language of love
Shall we all wake in the dawn?
Bask in the sunlight
Rest at twilight
With frisson in our hearts
Shall the music of change
Bring a rhythm
That would last beyond the dance
With the message of chance
Shall the echoes of the speech
Ring true in our hearts
Deep beyond the reach
Of the human eye
Has the veil of color been moved?
Can ability! Can labor! Can sweat!
Be allowed to sift
The wheat of selection?
Shall the oven of color
Bake no more in the hearts of men
The inferior bread
Without recourse to the taste
Shall jobs be free for all?
Can qualified be demystified
Can stardom be thrown?
At random to all
Can we say?
As we pray
That `A Change has come!’
© 2009 Derin Onokpasa
Tell Father I cried
I cried for the loss of a father
For the loss of innocence
I cried for being made to grow up in an instant
For being told not to cry
I cried because I knew
It would never be the same
I cried for the loss of counsel
That only a father could give
I cried for children like me
Whose silent tears were never heard
For being made a shoulder
Whence indeed, I needed a shoulder
I cried for the burden of a mother
So young and timid
Her silence so loud, I could hear it speak
Agonies of her heart, no one would know
I cried for him
Death came too quickly
I cried for my tomorrow
With no father in it
I cried for the songs in the night
That only I could hear
I cried with all my might
Perhaps I might bear
The loss of a father
© 2008 Aderinola Onokpasa
Will you be there
Sometimes I feel all alone in a world so cold
Sometimes I’m afraid to face tomorrow
Sometimes the Sun refuses to shine on me
Sometimes the world turns it’s back on me
Sometimes I look for shelter from the storm but I find none
Sometimes friends become fiends
Sometimes pain makes my whole day
Sometimes I feel lost in a world so small
Sometimes I ask myself if God is not but a name
Sometimes I feel roads lead nowhere
Sometimes I search for love but I find none
Sometimes I feel the world is not a place to be
Sometimes I search in vain for a shoulder to lean on
Sometimes feel I just can’t go on
In times like these will you be there for me?
© 2000 Adekunle Adejuyigbe
Living
Life before us is like a drama
Our lives remain just a part
Or a character in the play
Who but great men live on
When mortality has fulfilled its course
Your deeds live on in the hearts of people
Your works speak after you’re long gone
Your name never would be forgotten
If on the sands of time
Your footprints show goodwill.
© 1999 Aderinola Adejuyigbe (aka Derin Onokpasa)
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