Tag: RANDOM BLUES

  • RANDOM BLUES

    They steal what they don’t need

    And need what they can never steal

    Yes, they steal what they don’t need

    And need what they can never steal

    Our land swarms with Profligates-in-Power

    Whose gluttony is rife and rawly real

     

     

    Their dream is debacle

    Their desire is dross

    Say, their dream is debacle

    Their desire is dross

    No matter how bright the market

    They sell us all at a dreadful loss

     

     

    They steal from the left

    They steal from the right

    Oh, how they steal from the left

    And then steal from the right

    Their hold on the commonweal

    Is grim and frightfully tight

     

     

    They eat and eat till their stomachs

    Burst like overinflated tyres

    Alas, they steal and steal till their stomachs

    Burst like overinflated tyres

    Their venal souls will burn, one day,

    In a spate of wide, unquenchable fires

     

     

    Unhappy the land ruled by such soulless thieves

    Who wet their throats with our juiciest blood

    Say, unhappy the land of such soulless thieves

    Who wet their throats with our juiciest blood

    The rain now gathering in our skies

    Will cleanse this land of its cannibal flood

  • RANDOM BLUES (July 8 and its Famous Cup of Tea) Remembering M.K.O)

    That July day and its famous cup of tea

    Piping hot from the diplomatic kitchen

    Agbaga! That July day and its famous cup of tea

    Piping hot from the diplomatic kitchen

    Served with smiles and lethal love

    Before anxious envoys from across the sea

     

    A damned brave brew, its hue suspiciously dark

    Turbulent little lake in a cute ceramic basin

    Yes, damned brave brew, its hue suspiciously dark

    Turbulent little lake in a cute ceramic basin

    Served with cant and sophisticated cajolery

    In a mode and manner which remain amazing

     

    Sneaky hemlock for a tough Political Prisoner

    Whose courage neither word nor wand could wilt

    Yes, sneaky hemlock for a tough Political Prisoner

    Whose spirit neither word nor wand could wilt

    A sword which a nation’s army could not wield

    A cup of tea would thrust to its fatal hilt

     

     

    Just a few days before, a Stone Age despot (they say)

    Had expired in a raunchy romp with fallen angels

    Hah, just days before, a Stone Age despot (they say)

    Had expired in a raunchy romp with fallen angels

    Freedom’s foe went the way of rancid flesh

    A clobbered nation had never witnessed a freer day

     

    Now time for the Unjustly Jailed to assume his mandate

    Then came the busy envoys and their famous tea

    Yes, time for the Unjustly Jailed to get back his mandate

    Then came the busy envoys and their famous tea

    What happened on July’s eighth day that year

    The un-blindable eye of History has yet to see.

  • RANDOM BLUES (Heartthrob Blues)

    Between teeth and tongue

    A spate of bitter quarrels

    Say, between teeth and tongue

    A spate of bitter quarrels

    A silent storm, hardly foretold,

    Sometimes brews in the belly of empty barrels

     

    If you become a hammer, do not

    Turn the world into a wilderness of nails

    Say, if you become a hammer, do not

    Turn the world into a wilderness of nails

    Life’s narrative, muses the village wag,

    Is oftentimes a mix of half-remembered tales

     

    Let me wear your ring

    Around my finger, not my neck

    Pray, let me wear your ring

    Around my finger, not my neck

    I am not that juicy fruit

    Hanging low for the hasty peck

     

    I know my heart’s little room

    In the house of my body

    Yes, I know my heart’s little room

    In the house of my body

    Before you get the key to its tender door

    You must pass through a deep and solemn study

     

    A rock fell on her, and then she said

    “I have been hit by harder things”

    Say, a rock fell on her, and then she said

    “I have been hit by harder things”

    Pummeled several seasons like yam in mortar

    I am a patient victim of graver sins

  • RANDOM BLUES 500

    Our rulers eat and eat

    They are buried beneath their greed

    Haba!, our rulers eat and eat

    They are buried beneath their greed

    They forget the teeming folks

    Who wrestle with the scourge of need

     

     Yonder leaders are full of influence

    Our rulers have a bout of influenza

    Agbaga!, Yonder leaders are full of influence

    Our rulers have a bout of influenza

    We wail in want, we crouch in fear

    They squander our fortune like an endless bonanza

     

    They rigged themselves into the mainstream

    Shed no tear when they splash and drown

    Yes, rigged themselves into the mainstream

    Shed no tear when they splash and drown

    They will dance through the town in naked pomp

    Commanding us to cheer them in their absent gown

     

    The djinn in the goblet of power

    Wink with witches and mammoth monsters

    Say, the djinn in the goblet of power

    Wink with witches and mammoth monsters

    Those never drowned in its sea of madness

    Are watchful of its befores and wary of its afters

     

    The politician is a hopeless scoundrel

    Who speaks with a thousand mouths

    Beeni, the politician is a hopeless scoundrel

    Who speaks with a thousand mouths

    A patchwork of discordant aspects

    Like a foul, unsightly mongrel

  • RANDOM BLUES 500

    Our rulers eat and eat

    They are buried beneath their greed

    Haba!, our rulers eat and eat

    They are buried beneath their greed

    They forget the teeming folks

    Who wrestle with the scourge of need

     

    Yonder leaders are full of influence

    Our rulers have a bout of influenza

    Agbaga!, Yonder leaders are full of influence

    Our rulers have a bout of influenza

    We wail in want, we crouch in fear

    They squander our fortune like an endless bonanza

     

    They rigged themselves into the mainstream

    Shed no tear when they splash and drown

    Yes, rigged themselves into the mainstream

    Shed no tear when they splash and drown

    They will dance through the town in naked pomp

    Commanding us to cheer them in their absent gown

     

    The djinn in the goblet of power

    Wink with witches and mammoth monsters

    Say, the djinn in the goblet of power

    Wink with witches and mammoth monsters

    Those never drowned in its sea of madness

    Are watchful of its befores and wary of its afters

     

    The politician is a hopeless scoundrel

    Who speaks with a thousand mouths

    Beeni, the politician is a hopeless scoundrel

    Who speaks with a thousand mouths

    A patchwork of discordant aspects

    Like a foul, unsightly mongrel