Category: Niyi Osundare

  • SNAPSONG 271

    SNAPSONG 271

    When Eyes Are Four

    And now when eyes are four

         And the sky is full of stars

    We will count the dimples

         On the sacred moments of boundless banters

    When the stick has roused the drum to a roar

         In the throbbing edge of gathering crowds

    We will shake a leg and slay the silence

         That once ruled a sorority of sighs

     When our songs are summoned

         To sing the season

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    And wake the wind which braids the leaves

         On the heads of swaying trees

    We will count the stanzas

         In the rolling oriki which knew

    The ancestors  of the ants

         Before the earth was born

    Fast, flowing river

         Which never stops bowing

    To the rhythm of the rain as

         Trumpet flowers flaunt their delicate petals

     And so when eyes are four

         And the sky is full of stars

    We will watch green affirmations tickle

         Their way to the Orchard of Grace,

  • SNAPSONG 270

    SNAPSONG 270

    Toto, o se bi owe… Proverbially speaking   (1)

    We have been large, so large for too long

    Time to be small and great again

    A self-set blaze consumes our roof

    But we have no time for little arsons

    What happens when the people

    Gift the throne to a king

    Who makes little dolls

    Out of them and their children’s children

    What happens when a country

     Reels from the choke

    Of a tyranny foretold

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    From tower tops to marketplaces

    What happens when a people

    Walk into an open trap

    Blindfolded by a farce conceived in chaos

    How did this tragedy unfold in a land of vigorous laughter?

    “We have too much Science in our land”.

    Croaked the King of  shallow aspects

    “Yes, time for the Great Unknowing,

    Beautiful and absolutely tremendous!

     How can a people think they are at their tallest

    When they bow in passive silence

    What nation can ever grow its best

     When buried in abject obedience?

  • BRIDGE BUILDER

    BRIDGE BUILDER

    (for Christianne Fioupou)

    Bridge builder

    Silence lessener

     Tamer of the eternal turmoil

    Between  contending tongues

    The horizontal strife in their syntax

    The paradigmatic leanings of their words

     The seeming idiocy behind their idioms

    The loaded profundity  of their proverbs

    Pause

    And so it was

    When The Road*  led you to your quickening quest

    And whispering Embers burst into  blaze

    Across your Mediterranean bridge

    How did King Baabu’s barbarous barking

    Sound 0n the lips of a different bully:

    Red like the fiery fury of Thunder King

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    Or soft like the mellow expressivity of the Gallic tongue

    How did you manage the magic rendering

    Of Silences’ “painted harmonies”

    Or the redolent tonalities

    In the anxious patience of  Waiting Laughters?

    Tell us about the passionate territoriality of tongues

    And the semantic serendipity of lucky correspondences

    Diligent undoer of Babel’s babble

    Patience being your province; wisdom your wand

    * References to some of the works translated by Professor Fioupou: The Road  and King Baabu  (Wole Soyinka); Embers (Soji Cole); Thunder King (Femi Osofisan);  Labyrinths (Christopher Okigbo); Waiting Laughters  (Niyi Osundare).

  • SNAPSONG 269

    SNAPSONG 269

    (For Nigeria at 65)

    Another first day of another tenth month

    Of yet another long year

    The sun rose, wearily

     From a sober corner of the sky

    The rain this season

     Is full and furiously free

    The pampered lawns are glad

    The battered roofs are sour

    In other lands far,  yet not-so-far

    The sky rains red

    From the cannibal carnival of ‘smart bombs’

    By those who claim they own the world  

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    In this long-suffering country we call our own

    Awash with pledges, submerged in prayers

    For sixty years and five we have asked many questions

    Waiting for their vital answers

    The rich still too rich

     The poor too poor

    Our schools  still un-schooled

    Our hospitals  are horse-spittles

    Our country,  nonetheless

    With blessings so abundant

    Waiting, still waiting, for

    The Promise which succeeds the Pain

  • LET’S DO THE SING-ALONG  17   

    LET’S DO THE SING-ALONG  17   

    From coalition to collision

    Here comes the Party – Shopper (1)

    Tere pampa tere pampa

    Tere minnan minnan tere

    Hungry party shoppers

    Are here again

         Here again

         Here again

    Hungry party shoppers

    Are here again

         Tere pampa tere pampa

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    Their claws long deep

    In our carton of cash

         Carton of cash

         Carton of cash

    Their claws long deep

    In our carton of cash

         Tere pampa tere pampa

    Their eyes are red

    Their noise is loud

          Noise very loud     

          Noise very loud

    Their eyes are red

    Their noise is loud

         Tere pampa tere pampa

    My big old party

    Has done me in

         Done me in

         Done me in

    My big old party

    Has done me in

         Tere pampa tere pampa

    When they gulped down the chicken

    They threw me the bones

         Bones, bare bones

         Bones, bare bone

    When they gulped down the chicken

    They threw me the bones

         Tere pampa tere pampa

     (To be continued)

  • DAWN PERAMBULATOR

    DAWN PERAMBULATOR

    Those long legs

         How do they gage your gait

    As you walk each morning

         To meet the opening day

    Who hears the whisper

         Between your sole

    And the listening earth

         In what dialect, their dialogue

    How loud, the ditty of the dust

         The powdery prowess of its message

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    The granular grandeur

         Of its soft, embracing patience

    How do those long arms

         Paddle you through

    The ocean of the wind

         And its liquid lore

    At dawns resonant with untold tales

         Of the dreams of yester-nights

    The chimeric metaphysics of metaphors

         So indigenous to your figurative versatility

    The sweet sweat of gentle jogs

         The huff and puff of grateful lungs

    And muscles honed and toned for

         Endless promenades in the Orchard of Grace

  • RANDOM SNAPSONG 263

    RANDOM SNAPSONG 263

    Super Power

    Killer Power

    How can a civil world

    Survive this explosive madness?

    My bomb is bigger than yours

    My rocket is a ruthless arrow from hell

    I own the piece of sky above your house

    I can send death on countless errands

    From a thousand million miles

    Our missiles can spot your innermost hideaway

    We can strike you in your bedroom

    And pluck you clean from the bosom of your wife

    Our missiles never miss

    And when they ‘obliterate’ unintended targets

    We possess the Super Power Impunity

    To ‘obliterate’ our crime

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    Nothing is ever wrong

     Unless we say it is

    Never ever right

    If we decree it’s never so

    Super Power corrupts

    Super Power corrupts dangerously 

    Too many deadly toys in the hands

    Of those who act before they think

  • LET’S DO THE SING-ALONG 17

    LET’S DO THE SING-ALONG 17

    From coalition to collision

    Here comes the Party – Shopper (2)

         Tere pampa tere pampa

         Tere minnan minnan tere

    They promised me a juicy seat

    On top of gold mines and oil blocks

         Mines and oil blocks

         Mines and oil blocks

    The promised me a juicy seat

    On top of mines and oil blocks

         Tere pampa tere pampa

    They promised me a princely plot

    In our golden Capital City

         Golden Capital City

         Golden Capital City

    They promised me a princely plot

    In our golden Capital City

         Tere pampa tere pampa

    So I delivered all the votes

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    From my domain – and beyond

          All the votes

          All the votes

    I delivered all the votes

    From my domain – and beyond

         Tere pampa tere pampa

    Our party carried the day

    Through every rig and rout

         Rig and rout

         Rig and rout

    Our party carried the day

    By all rig and rout

         Tere pampa tere pampa

    Victory won, they shared all the booty

    And booted me aside

         Booted me aside

         Booted me aside

    Victory won, they shared all the booty

    And booted me aside

         Tere pampa tere pampa

    So adieu, Cockerel Party

    Tortoise Party, here I come

         Here I come

         Here I come

    Adieu, Cockerel Party

    Tortoise Party, here I come.

         Tere pampa tere pampa

         Tere minnan minnan tere

    (Concluded)

  • LET’S DO THE SING-ALONG 17

    LET’S DO THE SING-ALONG 17

    From coalition to collision

    Here comes the Party – Shopper (1)

    Tere pampa tere pampa

    Tere minnan minnan tere

    Hungry party shoppers 

    Are here again

         Here again

         Here again

    Hungry party shoppers

    Are here again

         Tere pampa tere pampa

    Their claws long deep

    In our carton of cash

         Carton of cash

         Carton of cash

    Their claws long deep

    In our carton of cash

         Tere pampa tere pampa

    Their eyes are red

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    Their noise is loud

          Noise very loud     

          Noise very loud

    Their eyes are red

    Their noise is loud

         Tere pampa tere pampa

    My big old party

    Has done me in

         Done me in

         Done me in

    My big old party

    Has done me in

         Tere pampa tere pampa

    When they gulped down the chicken

    They threw me the bones

         Bones, bare bones

         Bones, bare bone

    When they gulped down the chicken

    They threw me the bones

         Tere pampa tere pampa

    (To be continued)

  • SNAPSONG 266

    SNAPSONG 266

    Dawn Perambulator

    Those long legs
    How do they gage your gait
    As you walk each morning
    To meet the opening day

    Who hears the whisper
    Between your sole
    And the listening earth
    In what dialect, their dialogue

    How loud, the ditty of the dust
    The powdery prowess of its message
    The granular grandeur
    Of its soft, embracing patience

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    How do those long arms
    Paddle you through
    The ocean of the wind
    And its liquid lore

    At dawns resonant with untold tales
    Of the dreams of yester-nights
    The chimeric metaphysics of metaphors
    So indigenous to your figurative versatility

    The sweet sweat of gentle jogs
    The huff and puff of grateful lungs
    And muscles honed and toned for
    Endless promenades in the Orchard of Grace