Friday, June 13, 2014

Scary Moment

(An elegy on the late emir of Kano, Ado Bayero)

Death unveils the covered story
It exposes inner thoughts and emotions.
It demolishes all forms of structures
Death, despised by all, jinns and humans,
Feared by animals under the sea and on the earth.
And in all the universe, by all creatures
In a scary moment, it remains stern,
So recalcitrant being, uncertain and crook.
It shows up the hidden, and the untold,
It reveals the secrets of the living beings
The secrets kept for centuries and beyond.
I have in mind death and its clues,
As in the lines of Thomas Stearns Eliot
" And what the dead had no speech for, when living,
They can tell you, being dead: the communication
Of the dead is tongued with fire beyond the language of the living.
Death, the inevitable visitor that sneaks into our world,
That snatches the long treasures- of lives and happiness.
That breaks our internal and external defences
Banked and nurtured in good faith, then comes it
And grab the pride and fantasies of a people,
Throwing them into the bloody ocean of dejection
Death spares no king or don, but takes them off
It spares no wealthy or poor, learned or illiterate
Spares no old or young, crawling or bubbling;
Cooing or wooing; drooping with ailment,
Or even safe, jubilating hopefully on the Planet,
Will come as it follows the eternal command,
Spares not even an infant, nor pity the mother
It cruises into mother's womb, and makes it stillborn.
It doesn't chose its victim, niether favours favour.
Victimises all hemispheres in all that breath.
The departure of the emir, teaches all life lessons,
But only to the people who think- think like a man,
It teaches me to forsake the the material world
Including all its fabulous ornaments,
It teaches me to fear Lord more and more,
It makes me look straight up to the firmament,
And recall the exaltation and achitecture of God,
It makes me recall the dead, lying in cemetery.
Burried therein with only shrouds and cottons,
It makes me recall the abundance they left behind,
But the bounties can't emancipate the deceased or help.
Recalling all the graces the deceased once had,
And all the trophies and honours and regards,
Are for nothing but tittles of the past.
When I recall the influence and self-esteem
The offsprings left living, and the palaces,
The wealth, knowledge and luxuries,
The and- and- and- and the and...
I then forsake this uncertain world,
Temporary and confusing one...
And bear in mind, then, a scholar's lines:
" Verily Allah has intelligent servants,
They forsake the world and feared fitnah,
They observed in it and then knew
That it is not the place for living.
They then take it as a lake,
And make good deeds in it the boat."
May Almighty forgive the deceased king,
And make the Garden his better palace.
May He not try us after him and more.



Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless handheld from Glo Mobile.



Wednesday, June 11, 2014

The Olympus Has Fallen

(For the late emir of Kano Alhaji Ado Bayero)

The mourning begins,
Strikes our heads.
We're in floods of tears.
But the muezzin calls,

The prayer-goer responds
To the call- the call of Nature
The call all do answer,
Willingly or unwillingly.

The call that condones no delay
The call that none can deny,
Our ancestors answer the call,
With the generation to come .

Ours is but to lament,
For the Olympus has fallen,
The falling of hope,
It is like a falling of the sky,

And to others, it's a flood
That swallows the facades,
That masticates structures,
And that wipes a whole clan,

Leaving behind a history,
But Indellible on a golden slate,
Engraved on it: 'the don amir',
Leaving a yearning yarn,

A legacy to learn and lead,
For us and the folks to arrive.
The amir's charismatic yearn,
And the examplery life he lived,

The motherland bewildered,
By the unwanting visitor,
The visitor which causes rain,
And ends up in terrible flood,

Our world tsunamised,
Now, all affected and hooked
By the anchor of sorrow,
Till a new star emerges

But that I hope; a replacement
That may make a new world
Designed to remember the old,
For the fun is gone in the past.

My eyes red- like Kwankwaso's cap,
With my heart, sorrow- tagged.
I can't help but to swallow the pain
For the one to assuage it arrives,

To replace the 51 year reign.
Now, the king's lineage embrace
The destiny that has befallen all
And shall trust the Almighty's will

And we, to offer our prayers
For the deceased Peacock...
And wish him eternal abode.
But the emirship is sealed
In this century as I envisaged.



Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless handheld from Glo Mobile.

Thursday, June 5, 2014

My Heart

Good or bad
Joy or sorrow
Sweet or bitter,
Shadow or sun
Near or far,
Violence or peace
Black or white.
Day or night.
Sky or earth
Whatever it takes,
My heart is with you.

Inner Contentment

Little I know
In this world.
Little I have
On this earth.
Little I comprehend
About the nature.
Little I do,
To make my living.
I don't bother
For what I deserve not.
When I have,
I do thank God,
When I don't have
I still thank Him.
Failure and gain,
Are in His Hands.
Contented I remain
To my Lord and Creator.

Wednesday, June 4, 2014

My Heart Skips a Beat

My heart skips a beat
When I raise my eyes
To see but a blank space.
My heart skips a beat

When I walk a distance
But meet your absence.
My heart skips a beat
When I hunt your sorrow

But to find it gone.
My heart skips a beat
When I see footprints
Left by my rivals.

My heart skips a beat
When you cry for help
But my hands can't reach.
My heart skips a beat

When my ego hurts you
And then your eyes rain.
Then my eyes blaze,
And there you extinguish it.

My heart will not palpitate
When we merge and stick;
Then I become your equal.
My heart will then be free

And no more wriggles heard.
The heart will be sealed
By the key of happiness
And then skips no more.


Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless handheld from Glo Mobile.

Craving for Good

Think of good
For it will pay,
Here or There
Undisputed fact,
Let's strive for it.
The unlimited reward.
Let's our sights
Travel beyond visions.