‘Man is Dead’ (Poem)

Summary

I

I am just an old man

Caught in a revolution

That makes my mind to

Wonder and ponder

What my children will be –

After I should have cross

Sowe's gate never to return –

Without the sweet

Melodies of the birds,

Without the frightening beauties

Of snakes seeking

The fowl and eggs for

A sumptuous daily delicacy.

Shall these ones know

When rain comes and when

The sun comes?

The confusion is right

Here in front

Of me as I set out with

An umbrella and the

Sun almost melts my flesh.

I get out only the next

Day without an umbrella

And the rain soaks me

To shivering points.

Where has the forest gone?

Can sky-scrapers shelter like the forest?

II

Man is dead;

Nature now fights

From hurricane to mount Fako

Quarrelling and reminding west

Africa of her great authority

Where Epasa Moto along

With the spirits at Oku

And Boyo demonstrate their majesty.

Man is dead;

The sacred voice's order

And ordination to stewardship

Never meant destruction.

Man is dead;

The refusal of birds to sing,

The rain and sun confusion

Only plunges man to object

Of pity.

III

Holes were made

For rats and snakes

To abode.

Stones beneath

Were made to

Beautify and to hold

The foundations of the earth.

Man. Your digging of holes

In search of stones and liquid

Has shaken the foundation

Of the earth. And Fako

And Oku and Boyo

And Nyos and the twin lakes

Are speaking and you are deaf.

Deaf to Mongo's mournful flow;

Lamenting the history of a people

Stricken by violence and hate.

IV

God created the earth,

It was beautiful.

He gave man for stewardship.

Man decided to know

More than his creator.

The creator has given man

His most cherished peace,

And man has ruined the earth –

All alone

And instead of returning

To God for help,

He now blames God

For ordaining him with stewardship powers.

V

Man! What a creature?

And sure all other creatures are

Pondering like me.

Nature's shelter shall prevail

And my children's children

Will enjoy the songs from

The forest and feel

The taste and the feel

Of the scintillating sun rays

Clad in the many

Colours of the rainbow.