TRIBUTE TO KOFI AWOONOR
by
Austus Ofmat Nwanne {Mr. Tackle}
Nairobi attack has treated me thus...It has led an Iroko on a journey where returning is not possible...
Just few months after Africans had cried their eyes red; just when our tears are getting dried from loosing a very big Iroko{Chinua Achebe}, another Iroko has fallen...Hmmmmm...
"Something has happened to me
The things so great that I cannot weep"
When an Iroko is cut from the forest, the forest becomes like a naked mad man. But tell me, you tell me, what would become the fate of the forest when 2 Irokos exit the forest almost at the same time. Please, give me more eyes that I may cry; lend me more black clothes that I may mourn. For
"The affairs of this world are like the chameleon faeces
Into which I have stepped
When I clean it cannot go"
Africans, Don't you dare ask me why I'm crying because
"My right arm is broken,
And the tree on which I lean is fallen".
“He was an elderly gentleman. You would have thought that such a person would pass away peacefully. That’s what you wish for. This is just absolutely the last thing that one would have thought.”
Sir, you can now go beyond and rest, for you have many sons to fire guns, and many daughters are wailing already. Kofi, when you get there, tell him. Tell Achebe that only the broken fence stands in Nigeria.
"And those who dared not look in his face
Have come out as men.
How well their pride is with them"
My people, Kofi have wondered on this wilderness, "the great wilderness men call life". He have been somewhere. He turned here, the rain beat him, he turned there, the sun burnt him, and just when he turned to Nairobi, he was killed.
"The world is not good for anybody"
Alas!!! The travellers are returning home with little or no story to tell.
Wait a minute!!! What is the wailing for? What is the crying for? Kofi Awoonor himself is dead. The man who helped us communicated with our long gone ancestors with his "Songs of Sorrow".
Hmmmm...he was on the world's extreme corner with his poetry, he can't just go beyond and be forgotten. You'll live forever in our books.
Farewell!!!
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Please, drop your comments in honour of the slain hero.
indeed Sir Kofi was a great man. you made me remember the songs of sorrow as a poem. that was a poem that makes you feel the bad leadership and crime style of Nigeria and those international community who to respect us now talk to us like fools. may Kofi soul rest in peace. Amen.
ReplyDeleteAmen. What marvels and hurts me most is the fact the he was killed in a rebel attack. I would have wanted him to die a more peaceful death.
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ReplyDeleteSometimes life may seem too unfair to very bests especially at the seasons when you need them to retell their stories of those bloodless wars of words they fought, conquered and gained confidence...
D
addy, so sad we never got the chance to say goodbyes but...
Please, forgive the filthy hands of your borns who knew little of your Royal Honours.
But we love you still!
Hmmmmm...a nice speech. Thanks for your contribution.
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