Henry Akuete: My Poems and some

Among lesser men are gods Aye though few yet remain Through the glass I cast gaze across time and age to see yet how many ever were and are With their name in the eternal wind I listen and gander into the solid light A single loud name flies from a few Silent and loud in my frail drums Chinua, chinua, and yea I nod A thespian god of line and poetry But Lo I heard in the wind in the night Chinua's godly gold quill is fallen His corporeal quill his mortal hand He has passed over the silver seas Into the land of my forebears past Ferried by Charon for no coin While others pay in silver and gold Chinua my father lo tho I see him Sitting at table with Homer and them Drinking in verse the philosopher's mead With Ken Saro Wiwa an immortal alike Aye Chinua'a quill be fallen and yet his hand But he remains still alive in time Breathing to bear from the paper scrolls My son and my son's son will one day hear And sing a poetic song for prai...

Oh cupid,take this humble offering of tears and sorrow I bring To your ethereal alter on high And heed ye my mortal supplications Born from lonely and cold summer nights out of the misty depths do I cry A poor soul I am yearning for a sigh of love Pull ye out a fiery arrow from your quiver Filled with the coveted seed of love And with it take aim at my mortal heart Piercing it with the sweet immortal venom of gods That I may have love and feel the ecstasy Long felt by the lofty occupants of olympus On this day cute cupid Send the one that will take me to immortality for love remains eternal hereafter When flesh erodes to lie waste a mortal I know mine is out there though I see it not Touch my heart and let be gone the pain of loneliness Strike me and light the fire long come from the flight of your kin prometheus Find me love and keep me alive For death is all left for the lonely and loveless....

On I walk a lonely pilgrim Through life's road dark and cold Been on this long journey a while Since I woke from an unknown slumber On a quest for what I do not know I search with compulsive imperative Through murky and misty quagmires I meet the good, bad and deadly Where it leads I can not say Through many turns I lost my north I once was a young man when I walked Now the dust of age cover my skin I saw vanity come my way Yesterday when I took a queer turn Today I saw the stain of sin On my cloak when I sat to rest Call me lost if you know the way Through this gruesome wilderness Point the lonely finger down the road Where four points collide to confuse me For on I must persevere to proceed As my bones despair in a single place The road keeps me from the pits of insanity The road is all that I live for The pilgrim road where my mortal existence finds along a convoluted and paradoxical definition If they ask where I am someday Tell them I am still on...

Just yesterday I heard the news Of a plane that dropped from the sky blues Now that's common when you fly in nigeria Planes fall like snow in siberia But for idleness I asked who was onboard And lo I heard its men with some blue blood yokowa and azazi; names they called Crashed to death in the dark creek's mud Crashed they said though foul the sound For killed I heard when the whispers came 'round Listen and learn if you want to know more As death is sent by men who hold law Azazi was one who talked too much About a party and a king and a burning church He said we die because of PDP And that the party is as poisonous as DDT Now we all know what happpens to that lot And to people who speak about the rot Usually they get a letter bomb And accidentally fall to an early tomb But azazi died in a funny plane crash and someone surely got bounty cash To kill a man now thought a liability And an embarassment to the dark fraternity Now we all kno...

Away and beyond away From where the sun sets today Be a place of many and few Where the king is thief and fool Stories be told even today Of that old place where crime is play Nothing will work in your area Rich and hungry is Nigeria  Take a walk my friend on a hot sunny day To the place where the reps and lawmen stay But don't be shocked at what they say For all they do is loot and play Bound and named by a white prince's whore  Nigeria is old but a fool much more Country yes but nation a no A neighbour is none but a jewish igbo  "Kill that man" they shout on the street A land with none but hate and beef Tribe is all that spells your fate Could get you a job or bloody your face Down and beyond is that dark place Don't go there to that wild state If you ever heard a Nigerian's story Then know ye that its "No Love Country"

Oh gone be the spoils of life Squandered on the longings of vanity Rushing to the setting sun Age rushed me to impromptu sleep Alone on a lonely death bed Surrounded by none that know me I wish I did most differently But aye life runs a straight course Gone be the smiles of youth Gone be the days of old Gone be the days I saw Gone be the me that was Wish me for a silver coin A coin of sighs and sorrow To take me to a life after A coin; material due for Charon Call my brother; call my sister Call my friend and my kinsman If any yet be alive today To tell a tale of my last day A day I was alone to my thoughts A day I learnt the wisdom of loneliness A day I lay breathing but my last A day I left on death's lonely bed

All comes to conspire In the course to consume me Life becomes a murky mist Condensing to soak my lungs I thrash and i scramble Seeking to find respite How i live is mystery For death is all that greets me All my hands are forlon All i do becomes weary A smile is but a wish Laughter a kings ransom I yearn to gasp again To fill my lungs with purpose I need to rest a while For a while i need to breathe