I can trace your appearance
the way a camera scuptures
the rainbow from mountaintops
without rippling it
of its watery colours
I can track the your ostritch-neck
and the red pointed-nose
but what of the person
in the fellow who toured away
when the tortoise
was the toast of the jungle
when the snake
was adored at sight
today the cunning tortoise
is caged in the zoo
today the lustrous snake
is trampled upon...
I still remember
when we were fireflies
dazzling up the bushpaths
I beg you come back
you must come home
and see what lessons
I have learned
from the chaos around me
time has lost its strenght to tick
the bird has lost its gift to fly
and it is a taboo for our jaws
to hop with pride in laughter
the invigorating freshness of
the morning is lost
it is a good day to die
as faith has rushed out on us
you must come back
and learn that an easy way
to live life without pains
is an early death.

© 2002 chigbu uchendu eugene

This is a sobering poem that I fortuitously stumbled upon last week while testing out the new MSN search engine. It was written by Eugene Chigbu, an old friend and classmate from Command Secondary School Abakaliki, with whom I have since gotten back in touch.