From happy distant lands

A spirit was called upon

To bless the ritual day

The exchange of sweet mortal wine

 

From fertile ecstatic lands

A sculpture appeared

To seal that ritual night

The exchange of living mortal fluids

 

He milked the strength of love

And chewed the bone of strength

He drank from mermaid streams

And played with warrior bows

 

In the sea of years, currents of ill

Roared and Hit yet drowned him not,

He knew their gods and where they lived,

He was the spirit from distant lands

 

In the gathering of men

His bowl was decked with meat

His gourd was filled with wine

Yes,He was the wine tapper who also loaded his gun

 

He fell many a time

On earths wrestling ground

But always stood again to pour penitential gin

Saving proverbs for seeds yet unborn

 

Four market days ago,

he split the kola nut and wryly smiled

Knowing how spirit’s dance

He welcomed the newest one in town

 

Yesterday morn at the town square

The masquerade missed his way

The silent gong was raised

The eagle perched on his father’s tomb

 

Today the air will be dry,

Men and Spirit markets will close

The great drums shall sound a dirge

Sons shall be proud of pall-bearing hands

 

When the Canon Sounds

And Gunpowder fills the air

Then,the spirit will return to distant lands

The African will join ancestral yonder bands

 

The King shall offer earth her share

As humans drink and toast

In unison with spirits

To welcome the newest ancestor in town

 

(For the heroic soul of Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, The people’s General,Dikedioranma ndi Igbo, Ezeigbo gburugburu)