ABIKU

 

 

ABIKU

"Abiku so Ologun deke" - they say

My breathe shall cease away
Like the twelfth hour of time again.
In vain shall be the reviving spell,
And the jointed metal cones bell,
You cast upon my souless aged body.

The ashes put on the soil of my face
When you are chuffed to lay me to the grave,
The necklace and the bangles cast around my neck,
And the scary knife you beckon to make marks on my chest,
Will have no hold to my squirrel teeth.

For every season, I will come
To chastise my mother with plague,
I will suckle like the flesh-birds,
And wet the ground with tears from her eyes.

My spirit will come and go
Like the rain in a rainy desert,
And like the flash of eagle,
I will visit you with lotus of scars.

Seven goats blood and palm oil
Shall be for libation to redeem my soul,
Cowries from several seas shall be laid on my grave,
And only, not again that you have peace

For I am Abiku
The spirit of the living dead!

11

Save me from birth fear
And again, chastise not with plagues
Please, spare me the unending tears
Come again this season and stay

Seven seasons, seven graves
I have seen sweetness in life, full of pains
Seven goats in seven days for seven years
Likewise, oil price for libations have no grades

Every season, same shame stories
Written on the wall of my chuffed smile
As the ears of mocking birds hide at bay
To share Your stories as tales

But how best will you hold this land a desert
And let its water flow through the cheeks of its face?
How long will you hide your spirit deep into the ground
And let the wind of time mock my wearied eyes?

Will you please hold your squirrel teeth
And hide not behind the bamboo trees?
Your cowries and prices again I will pay
Only this time, come to stay.

Come to stay, come to stay
And do not sway away
Into the wilderness of the dead
To choke me with pains of no end

But as time ride upon the time of time
Let me feel as a woman in her prime
As I hold you in my arms
Forever, as long as death spare my life.

..............................................................................

Abiku refers to the spirits of children who die before reaching puberty; a child who dies before twelve years of age being called an Abiku, and the spirit, or spirits, who caused the death being also called Abiku.

(Ç) Copyright 2015
@ Timileyin Gabriel Olajuwon/ Torm Gardson  

#Prinxe TGO

FATE OF A VAGRANT

Wandering around like the tattered kite in the sky
Subjected to hostility of the highest kind
As though I have no aim to soar high
But merciless mercy is what I have to find

Stranded like a stranger
Tied with the rope of joyous suffering
Saturated with the truthful lies of a future leader
Yet I ramble like a spirit every morning

I trudge up to home's door
Crouching like a leper to the rusty floor
Searching Instead of better life an home work
Major in sweeping and car wash

Like a runner without a mission
I become a wanderer like I have no vision
From place to place I search of daily bread
And when the night comes, a times under a
bridge I hang my head

Papers and cardboard become wrapper
In the cozy dreadful night
Left to dialogue with men of the underworld
Until the sign of a bright morning light

Day in; Day out
Life whispers the wind of sorrow
Build upon the foundation of fate
To linger in mind a fearful tomorrow

However, they ask me to keep up faith
Faith! What does faith has to do with fate?
Could it break the shackles of fate?
Or I stumble in faith in vain till I become late
Should this forever be my fate?


(C) Copyright
Timileyin Gabriel Olajuwon