ABIKE - By Ogunyomi Israel Abidemi


You rise like a storm from the wing
Of the Northern scion, Abike,
Above the arrogance
Of Sahara's sordid sands,
Placing your seamless elegance
Atop the pride of Nature.

Abike, fresher you are
Than a freshly hatched dawn,
Peeping out of the cracked
Carapace of the night;
Tenderer you are even than the
Morning dew, moistening
Wild spines of cactus plants.

Perfect are your teeth, Abike,
Perfect and stronger than several
Tons of corn-cobs, smiling shyly
At the competitive birds,
Racing on the cardboard of the sky,
Through frail openings of their raffish raffia
Like an elated masquerader
Behind the confidence of his comic costume.

Your beautiful black skin
Lends the Coal his complex complexion,
Borrows the night her great garment,
Under which timid nocturnal
Creatures take a refreshing refuge.

Abike,
You are the Savannah,
A heavenly haven of the
Great green lemon grasses!

 ©Ogunyomi Israel Abidemi


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Is the English Language a Curse or Blessing to Nigeria? by Olaniyi Abdulwaheed

Image
English the language of the colonial masters in Nigeria. Colonial masters bequeathed English to Nigeria as part of the ways of making Nigerians adopt their culture. Since language is part of the culture and culture is part of the language, Nigerians overwhelmingly adopted British culture and viewed it as the best gaze in the mirror. The prestige attached to British culture cannot be confiscated in English, the British language. However, many scholars with different opinions have argued on the existence of the English Language, whether it is a curse or blessing for the country. Some argued that, embracing English language is a curse to Nigeria, whereas some believe that it a force of blessing for the nation.  The growth of the English language in Nigeria can be traced to the heterogeneous nature of Nigerian society. Nigeria is a country with many languages with at least of about 400 languages. Most of these languages are not mutually intelligible, that is, speakers of one langua
Read more

A CRITICAL REVIEW OF A PLAY TITLED “ARMattan of VENOM” BY OLANIYI ABDULWAHEED

Playwright : Gege Baseran Title of the book : ARMattan of VENOM  (KOMMEDY of the Other ) Genre : Play Reviewed by : Olaniyi Abdulwaheed ………………………………………………………………………………………………….. It may not take an ordinary man to wipe the tears of a suffering land. The land that is full of chaos is not always friendly with orderliness. While some are working towards progress, many are blocking the estuaries to the sea of social development. In the land, people bargain their conscience with personal gain. People whose responsibility is to look after the social well being of the people, serve as the doctors to societal hills, are even the patients to be treated at the ward of the universe. Oftentimes, it is so painful to be in the harsh condition of social weather; when there should be breeze, it gives heat; when rain is required, it gives Harmattan, so everyone in the society shivers in the boulevard of penury and chaos. In this sense, Gege Baseran travels to the world of sage
Read more

The origin of African Drama and Theatre with Salient Elements from Selected Plays by Olaniyi Abdulwaheed

African drama and theatre started to emerge in Africa continent when British came to make their affairs of life imposed on Africans. They came with ideas; religion, education, business transaction, making Africa a raw material place where their solid land was built up by it. Through this, African lifestyle changed and wore another garment because of the predicament at the advent of British. Though Africans had their normal dramatization (in form of folklore), their experiences for the coming of British always feature in the African drama and theatre that was inherited from Europeans. The origin of African drama and theatre based on traditional, history, and contemporary dramatic forms in Africa which range from sacred or ritual performances to dramatized storytelling, literary drama, or modern fusion of scripted theatre with traditional performance techniques. The diversity in performances is as a result of massive spread of cultures and traditions in each country. A lot of t
Read more