By Edozie Udeze
I
It’s a story to be told,
How we met down town
It all began in Lagos, February being the month
In the midday blazing sun, down the street
At a junction jotting into another
Her face shone as the sun threw its
rays on her noble smiles
There, I met her, a queen
There, I saw her, a cheerful gazelle
Victim of a square, unfair, inner world.
And she tried to make a run for it.
I met her in the depth of my
loneliness, a queer one
But she led me on and on and on
Her cheerful face wearing little tallow
Her very person shielding her noble features.
But Hannah is a woman to behold!
I will take you to London, I said,
Oh, why London, young lad, why not
Tokyo for that’s what I’ve always preferred.
Then she smiled perfunctorily to glide away
Now, see Hannah glide away, away beyond the slope.
Beyond the real reach of me
But I know that she is a queen
The one I shall take to Tokyo
And back to London, where we
Shall sing, steeped cheerfully in Love
Ain’t it all a blooming season of Love?
II
Then, thereafter, Hannah full of brevity
and compassion
With heart so full of Love
Face infused with beautiful smiles
of a maiden, thrusting forth…
Arms out-stretched in full swing
And even defying opinions so fully
expressed in public
Ahoi! she ran, all to me in good
Cheer and steady affection
You could see her dimples soar in profusion
Her heart heaving in slow, steady torrents of love.
Her hips swinging slowly, slowly, slowly
Her lips moving in sweet, sweet, sweet
Crescendo of tuneful silence,
If her eyes were shut, never would
I see those twitters of youth cascading,
Darting forth, willingly, assuredly, invitingly
Then I knew, that Hannah, in spirit
So laden with metaphysical affinity
Loveth me mightily so that together
Our mutual flame shall forever
be one in total unity.
III
Ah! but truly, truly, this is
A tale so sweet to forget
Hannah, a maiden in the prime of life
With a soul so gentle to hurt
Together, arm in arm we walked
Down the aisle singing, singing, and singing
Oh Lord, how wonderful your name
Soundeth, joyfully, refreshingly, endlessly…
How great your love so infinitely bestowed
And Hannah looked fulfilled, silent being
The very petal of a love so long awaited!
Then the Tokyo story thus ended, while in
London the real celebration began
Here’s for you Hannah and here’s for me
This storyteller so steeped in London love.
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