Poem: Ojumo Ilemo

For Soyinka, Dad, and the Egba race

Ojumo ilemo
My ancestral inheritance
Like a fine bride
Betrothed me yet cherished
A sweet morning callings

Human upsurge
By the cock’s assertive voice
Voice of the windy tide
West and east
Up north and even down south

Visitors, habitants, and the ones quitting
All rise to a morning wake
Mighty lights reviving
A god on its own
And butterflies blessing
My old yet new beginning

Ojumo ilemo
My celestial anthem
Even my celesta
Can testify to this solely choral truth
Our moonshine at the borders
Continuously resurrecting
And the sun still emitting
Its vast blessing

Ojumo ilemo
Hayday hopefully
I depart from my slumber
As strength usurps death
But for awhile
Strife plays all day
Over my temporal image
Yet temporary silence
Binding my soul recurrently
In form of wake keep

Ojumo ilemo
As though a phenomenal ambiguity
Yet to be unraveled but gladdening
While glorified our day is
Wisdom treads the green pastures
All through the morning tide
Sweat salty, knees aching arms fatigued
But in pursuit of freedom or profit
Whilst obviously and pathetically
My fellows await in negligence
The reward of their own mischievous feats and beats

Surely
We shall dance
We will all dance
But our rhythmic strokes
Will our piper differentiate
By the season’s closure