Its the season again, and like the more recent ones like it, the magic of Childhood Christmas is missing. The global waarming thing has a bit to do with this, as it is still raining. Imagine a wet Christmas!! I wrote this poem to reflect the essence of this season. Hope it rings a bell.
TRAIL IN THE SNOW
A way in a manger,
A path has been made:
Sons adopted from strangers;
And gods, they who were once slaves.
Tracy Chapman says that those who’ve never been in love need not forget. I had no inkling of what she was talking about untill i asked the girl that i love to become “MY GIRL that i love”. She declined graciously. I declined too. After this there was no place to go but up (apart from intermittent visits to the bathroom to cry). Anyways, life- or what’s left of it- goes on.
Forgetting can be hard, especially when the memories are so good. Today i’ll be chasin, not girls, but business leads. Opportunities here in “Naija” are so enormous. Ta ta.
I am young and in love
So all is right with the world.
It doesn’t really matter when NEPA strikes
Nor do I give a monkey’s toss for politicians and the likes
Because from dawn to dusk I spend my days
Walking around in love-filled haze.
Suicide bombers hold no scare,
For as foreign news go: “It’s happening over there.”
And America could drown in Iraq’s oily treasure trove.
What do I care? I’m young and in love!
A man is only as tall as the length of is patience, and only weighs as much as his words.
– Wordsmith.
The sun is muffled by dark grey clouds rumbling a prophecy of rain. beneath, we say “Amen” and wait for it to come to pass. For hours we watch, the dark countenance of the clouds gradually lightening up until it culminates in the sun’s dazzling smile. He is happy to speak again. We wear a frown (and a shirt of sweat).
The locals speak in hushed tones about one who walks the earth endowed with power over the rain. In louder voices, they blame the Hausa cattle traders stationed across the railway of employing his services to prevent rainfall which the traders claim will kill their cattle and ruin business.
No one has ever seen the rainmaker. Everyone living in my town however witnesses his presence: convincingly dark clouds, hot still air, a little breeze, gusts of wind, incoming “missionary clouds” chasing the dark“heathens” away and in the process, bleaching the complexion of our African sky.
Do you have any stories of yours to tell about urban legends in your area? Please feel free to drop a line or two of it here. Thanks!
Hi.
It’s nice to be back, although i’m a bit stretched cos i’m typing this at break-neck speed (you wish!) so that PHCN (remember the name. They’ll get to you sooner or later.) will not take what is theirs. PHCN holds the responsibility of generating and supplying electricity to Nigerians. There is a lot more holding than anything else in their responsibility for my liking.
Please be kind enough to share your lack of electricity experiences with me. I’d like to see the humour in this. Thanks a mill… Chei!!! They’ve struck again. Gotta go…
This is a true story.
A certain lady contracted cancer when her son was only two. To make matters worse, her husband had died only three months before her illness was diagnosed. Her physicians offered little hope. But she would not give up. She was determined that she would see her son through college by operating a small retail store left her by her husband. There were numerous surgical operations. Each time the doctors would say, “Just a few more months.”
The cancer was never cured. But those “few months” stretched into twenty years. She saw her son graduated from college. Six weeks later, she was gone.
The moral of the story: Goals give us something to look forward to, they give us a reason to get up everyday. Don’t have goals? Then you probably don’t have a life. Set goals today.
Taking the lead,
I followed its steps in silence
Through lanes curved and long,
To points i never imagined I’d belong.
I learnt to direct by being subject
To the mark-and-clean object
Untill I found that we walked
Side by side.
FRIENDS: Friday night that never ends. ( bouncers and bad music notwithstanding)
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