WHO SHALL NARRATE OUR CHRONICLES?
Who shall narrate our chronicles?
Of the times we lived in huts and caves
Wrapped in leaves as the elements battered our delicate skins
Fashioned tools and weapons with stones and sticks
Conquered beasts and terrains with our bare hands
Created communities and appointed leaders from amongst us
Buried our children as they died of unknown diseases
Vainly battled against malevolent forces
Our futile sacrifices to dead gods recursively unacknowledged
Our voodoo and jinxes ineffective
A time of PLAGUES, EPIDEMICS and FAMINE
Who shall narrate our chronicles?
Of our capture and imprisonment on our own soil
By the fair-pigmented demon
Our exile to an unknown land
Forced to work amidst canes of sugar and apples of pine
Our ingestive apertures sealed with impenetrable latches
As we built modern “Babel towers,”
Died within the rows and ridges
Buried enmass in colossal doors in the floor
Correctively raped by our depraved taskmasters
Ironically modeled into gladiators for their pleasure
As we toiled amidst blood and sand in the arena much to their sick delight
A time of OPPRESSION, SUBJUGATION and DOMINATION!
Who shall narrate our chronicles?
Of our return from ostracism
The demise of our valiant heroes
Whose candor and nerve contributed to their expiration,
Our reclamation of our isolated domains,
The rebuildings and recoveries of seized territories,
Our struggles and tussles for total freedom from our bleached captors
Our plots and coups against the hands of tyranny,
Our amalgamation and unification after relentless toil,
As the white-green striped emblem danced in the skies.
The replacement of our conquerors with our liberators,
Those we put all our hopes in.
Their betrayal and perfidy
As our costs of living soared calamitously.
Our security degenerated to a new low.
A time of DESPAIR, DISILLUSIONMENT and DESPODENCY!
Who shall narrate our chronicles?
Of the upheaval by the camoflagued warlords,
The penetration of government echelons by smart illiterates,
The silence in the streets of all and sundry,
The hushed whispers in chambers and closets,
The cries, torture and deaths in prison cells,
The satirical lyrics by the brave panted crusader,
his euphony and message striking a chord.
The spicy words of the brilliant white-haired intellectual,
As he voiced his disapproval time and again
The hangings and slaughters of the martyrs
As the powers that be rotated the control amongst themselves.
A time of TREACHERY, FEAR and APPREHENSION!
Who shall narrate our chronicles?
Of the return of the flowing garment to supremacy
After the demise of the apple-munching fiend
and the completion of a solar revolution by the meek legionnaire.
Of the wastes and mismanagements
Draining away our hopes and expectations
The exponential augmentation of living costs,
The scarcity of the once abundant energy fuel,
The hikes in prices of the previously abundant grains
The corruption and infiltration by sensational high-ranking petty thieves,
The passing of “The Umbrella” from idiot to fool to buffoon,
The kidnaps and tussles in the South
The cries for liberation in the East
The voiceless dependence on prayers in the West
The bombings and beheadings in the North
The pointless agendas and policies
The incessant Massacre of the lingua franca by the Queen Bee
The continued martial hold on the nation by a fearsome trio
The mishaps and strifes and rituals.
A time of ECLECTIC and OUTLANDISH IDIOSYNCRACIES!
Who shall narrate our chronicles?
When finally we cease to be
When all that’s left is dust and smoke
Our lands finally blown apart
Our culture completely disintegrated
And aliens our lands gradually rebuild
Who shall be left to tell these stories?
And who indeed shall be left to listen?
Oreoluwa Aboluwarin
Abeokuta Nigeria
I blog at www.aboluwarin.com
Join me on twitter: @oreoluwade
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Wow, wow, wow!!! This piece’s really *insert adjective* – whaaat!! I was at a book reading recently and the published poet who performed has nothing on you, which goes to show your potential, limitless I tell you. It was an honor reading this – you got a new follower for your blog. Nice one Bro, nice one.
cool stuff…
Bro,this is a job well done. See you at the top
Hmmmm food for tot
wow this is indeed a mind reflecting call to our beginning as Africans, the hurdles we ave surmounted and the glorious hope of a future ahead. Tanks man, it is really patrotic of u
this is superb!!!
this is superb and splendid!!!
Nice piece bro…
With this i can go to bed and snore to the core.Thanks bro and niece piece.May i copy please?
Brilliant. I just had to say that again!
@araga By all means pls. @eseosa thanks so much. I really appreciate you.
Great material…we already have in u one of those who will do the narration…hmmm. An encapsulation of our annals…big ups!
I love dis. Thumbs up man. Damn!!!!! Nigerians got talent. I see a brighter future. Wasn’t interested earlier buh wen i read it i had to read it anoda 3 times. Masterpiece indeed. U hav a fan. I bet u do. *my head dey swell for u oo* wish i was d one. Keep it up man.
Great piece!
This is a great piece, excellent work. This should go international… Keep it up.
Nice one bro!
This is a nice piece…
Captures the whole story…
I just thought for a second… It might be good to include a reflection on how things got this bad…the lackadaisical behavior of the aging generation…
Nevertheless…
This is a master class.
Let us hope we will start to learn that working collectively while respecting each other’s ideas. Hopefully, we can be here to tell our own good story.
- @gbolubunmi
Brilliant
An excellent piece. Like all good stories, it leaves us with questions to ponder and makes for sincere introspection. I would only encourage greater attention to versification(stanza lengths, line beginnings)and contextual usage of certain words. I admire your thought process.
Thanks Victor, yeah I agree more could have been done to make the stanza lengths identical.
Thanks everyone so far for your comments, I truly appreciate you.
This is a really good one…
Well articulated!
Job well done..nice combination of words!!!
Good read. I’ve read it more than twice now but I still always love coming back to read. It’s a simple summary of the state of things without necessarily going out of one’s way to be “very political.” Hope we are left to narrate these chronicles like you’ve said and hopefully, our kids and descendants would be left to listen.
*deep sigh* Onpoint bro….great piece #Bless
The passing of the umbrella from idiot to fool to bufoon . . . Interesting read.
Here, Oreoluwade, share this poem…
Silences
by John Montague
for Elizabeth
1
Poetry is a weapon, and should be used,
though not in the crudity of violence.
It is a prayer before an unknown altar,
a spell to bless the silence.
2
There is a music beyond all this,
beyond all forms of grievance,
where anger lays its muzzle down
into the lap of silence.
3
Or some butterfly script,
fathomed only by the other,
as supple fingers draw
a silent message from the tangible.
Do you think it says anything about style and purpose in poetry? And how does your conclusion impact you?
Thanks kabolobari, I love your comment/criticism
, afterall that’s what the comments are designed for, to make one a better writer. I agree with you that poetry’s quite a tool to “make anger lay its muzzle down in the laps of silence” however, I believe it is at the same time a way to express the state of the heart at some point or another, hence, one might not be seeing a ‘hopeful’ scenario when one scribbles down a few lines. Believe me, I love beautiful endings a lot and I try to channel my writings as such occasionally. I’d love to share the poem you wrote above as such. Once again, I truly appreciate your reading, commenting as well as sharing. Be there!
your poem is beautiful, sad, compelling and deep. You can feel the hands of Achebe, Clarke and Soyinka on it… African literature and folklore shall not be lost with minds like yours
Thanks for commenting Abdulmalik. Glad you found it compelling.
Absolutely brilliant poem with loads of messages in it… That is exactly what we need to ask ourselves at this point in time… Keep it up!
Vedette formidable! Really great work you’ve done with this piece!
The cyclicality of d Nigerian person perfectly captured in d piece.We r bck to where we left