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Mother Tongue

Yes ma, mother tongue my ears are not deaf to your calling even when I am dead at night and far I have gone in the world beyond – world ceiling for not like others, stumbling waddling falling dying is your voice in their ears I have wanted to die my ears to this calling to die it like a day old life-less infant for even if it is animate it could neither see nor hear O what a powerful! Pricking my ears your wailing a spear Now I have prepared and I am set to embark on the fruitless errand of yours Listen, mother tongue like proud-less river to my words I have gone and I have seen her prettiness I have moved close to her and smelt her scent O sugary! This strange tongue is fascinating her luring tone is so sonorous instant she sings your children sleep and snore as frog O mother tongue! Opened are my eyes and covered are my ears tightened, tightened like thin can but only your wail rooms my ears O mother tongue! You are a mother whose belly is the ocean that streams in the flesh You are a pool of blood which within flesh you room Can someone dry water and blood in the flesh so that you can be no more? You are a mother whose no child can tell of her beginning You are umbilical cord You are immortal, yet you are dying O mother tongue! I have prepared and I am set to embark on the fruitless errand of yours Listen, mother tongue like proud-less river to my words The children which because of them your eyes stream will neither listen nor ear you appalling O mother tongue! I am set and it is time to embark on this errand of yours Perhaps if their sense would sense and their eyes would see the beauty in you and your tone that as sweet as honey that can never bereft it taste O mother tongue! If you die in their house who will, indeed, cry if not them in amidst of mockery eyes or can a strange tongue be their tongue? A wake up write for whoever cherish other culture above his or hers.

Copyright © | Year Posted 2016




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Date: 11/4/2016 7:36:00 PM
wow, this is very intense, Afolabi. I feel stupid in asking. But your mother tongue is in no danger of dying, is it? I bet it will stay very strong with poets like you to defend it.
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Date: 10/24/2016 1:19:00 PM
If English is not your "mother tongue," you certainly have a way of expressing your words in this language. I can't imagine how hard it would be to live in a country where people did not speak English. A thought-provoking poem, Afolabi!
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Date: 10/23/2016 8:22:00 AM
I enjoyed reading this one again.
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Date: 10/15/2016 4:55:00 PM
This is an excellent piece!..mother tongue is one of our identities.
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Afolabi Muideen
Date: 10/22/2016 11:22:00 AM
thank you, Bose, for dropping by, i do appreciate your comment.
Date: 10/6/2016 6:21:00 AM
Excellent. Very thoughtful and powerful write. Enjoyed reading it. Thanks for sharing it.
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Afolabi Muideen
Date: 10/22/2016 11:01:00 AM
thank you for dropping by.
Date: 10/3/2016 2:19:00 PM
Powerful write my friend. You've expressed yourself well. It's a great look at those who think they are.... Enjoyed. Linda
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Afolabi Muideen
Date: 10/5/2016 12:23:00 AM
Above their culture, rather.
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Afolabi Muideen
Date: 10/4/2016 5:37:00 PM
To those whom think they are civilized about their culture or whom...? We all bond in one language... we should respect it as well as ours and other languages. Thank you for the meaningful comment.
Date: 10/3/2016 12:49:00 PM
Syllabi, Your poem is a beautiful expression of honoring our ancestors with their mother tongue. It was not that long ago that Hawaiians were forbidden to use their language and it was not taught in schools. I am happy to say that all that has changed and the Hawaiian language is now being taught in schools again. I agree all cultures should be honored and excepted. 7 ; )
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Afolabi Muideen
Date: 10/4/2016 5:32:00 PM
Our culture worth fighting for. I have never heard of Hawaiians of hawaii before until now. You made me do a little research. Thanks for the comment.
Date: 10/2/2016 7:15:00 PM
What a magnificent piece, one of your best!
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Afolabi Muideen
Date: 10/4/2016 2:41:00 PM
Oh, thank you for dropping by. I do appreciate your comment.
Date: 10/2/2016 3:17:00 PM
I am captivated by this heartfelt appeal to those who do not cherish their mother tongue, Afolabi. We should be proud of it and cultivate it so as to keep it alive and well! #7 // paul
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Afolabi Muideen
Date: 10/4/2016 8:01:00 AM
Yes we should be proud of it no matter where find ourselves - perhaps high post in another country. i appreciate your worm comment.
Date: 10/2/2016 9:28:00 AM
Hi Afolabi, To have a culture and a"mother tongue" are things to be cherished. I enjoyed the message witin this write:-) Alexis
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Afolabi Muideen
Date: 10/2/2016 11:38:00 AM
Yes Alexis, we should embrace our culture above others. However, many people have lose in this foreign language, foreign culture. I appreciate your support, thank you.
Date: 10/1/2016 7:51:00 PM
Our mother tongue connects us to our roots....nicely penned
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Afolabi Muideen
Date: 10/2/2016 12:50:00 AM
That is truth my friend. Our mother tongue link us to the ancestors, for they speak to us through our mother tongue. In my schedule each day for reading poetry, I take most of my time to read traditional poetry. And most poetry I purchase is cultural. Thanks you for the worm comment, I do appreciate it.
Date: 10/1/2016 6:52:00 PM
Being a person who had to immigrate to Canada and had to do my university studies not in one foreign to me language but in two, English and French, so I know the value of a mother tongue. No matter how well we learn a second language it will still be a foreign language because this language we did not "lived through" we just learned it! Our mother tongue speaks to our soul for each experience, feeling and idea we had we lived it first and then we put a word on it. Very good emotional writing!
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Afolabi Muideen
Date: 10/2/2016 12:34:00 AM
I take my time to view the menace in my society . And each day I realize how dying my language is in some houses. Compere to you that have migrated from one country to another, they have not reached the border of Nigeria not to talk of out of Nigeria. Yet their mother tongue is dying in their mouth.
Date: 10/1/2016 5:37:00 PM
It is sad that a native language would be lost in this modern age..We all blend into one in great big cities though..Thanks for stopping by..I enjoyed reading your work..Sara
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Afolabi Muideen
Date: 10/1/2016 6:31:00 PM
We are all bond in one in this modern Language, still our native language is not a rag. We should cherish it so much. There is a proverb that says: yours is yours. Thank you for commenting, I do appreciate you.

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