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Best Poems Written by Ohiozoba Ehiede

Below are the all-time best Ohiozoba Ehiede poems as chosen by PoetrySoup members

Details | Ohiozoba Ehiede Poem

They have come for your funeral
Their looks belie ‘their hearts
When you needed them
Their backs turned on you
Now shamelessly and hypocritically
They drag those sacrilegious legs
To profane your last rest in life.
All you got from them
Were whimpers, envying and backbiting
Now they cover their infamous faces
With white hankies White in contrast To this solemn event
Not less of concealing their last laugh at you yes they laugh, since you bit the dust before them
‘Dust to dust
Ashes to ashes….
What is theirs? They do not lose! Devil incarnates! They cannot wait to attend the reception
Their disgusting guts shall be full.
Come today barely three days back they came revelling
And seeking pleasure in the arms of damsels
At your expense
How the wheel turns!
They have forgotten so soon you who served and catered for them whenever you could
You, without bias, attended to their various needs Like Cleopatra’s maid.
Now you lie there in stillness
The stifling hands of death hold you motionless not moving, not talking why don’t you stand up And bring their jeers to shame? Alas! You shall fear, ache, breathe and See no more
But can’t you see around your grave side that some of the people never liked or knew you existed? They are here as guarantors and possible witnesses to see you firmly and finally incarcerated in that airless rest place Oh! A gross miscarriage of justice!
Look towards your wife how she stands weeping but are the tears real? Your trusted friend stands Beside gloating Dressed more like an entertainer Than a mourner See how he places his hand On her shoulders Consoling her? That hand is more or less caressing than of comfort my friend your wife is no longer a widow Right here by your grave side an oddity is being perfected
Salacious minds they still keep the primrose path.
Without flagging or failing your fatherless children are aghast
Even your aged mother stupefied beyond redemption
It was so sudden and though your brothers and sisters hold them a new life of toil, hardship and squalor may await them.
What of your prized possession which your pilfering relatives have equally shared?
Never mind the children should be your assets and judge the atrocities inflicted on you
Though you have gone to return no more
Sleep well for even if man forgets this tomb, never its occupant
Sleep well! My dear friend Adieu!
Till we meet to part no more.

By Ohiozoba Ehiede

Details | Ohiozoba Ehiede Poem

There Are No Bands In Death

There are no bands in death
They are in various states
Lifeless in varied postures
Brought for different reasons
Some palsy and age took their toll
Others victims of premature  machinations
Many fell from jealous causatives
A lot from envious enemies
Modest number in the line of duty
Protecting the sanctity of fatherland
Oh yes the occupant of this space:
He was the community’s tallest
His height wrestled and intimated iroko trees…
Now vanity
This lady…
I remember 
Had a voice sweeter than a Nightingale
Her shrill high pitched soprano
Bordered on the corridors of falsettos
Cracked glasses unending
Vanity upon vanity
There are no bands in death
Bones litter  a grave’s mouth
As cleaved and cut wood upon the earth
Philosophical quandary:
Point of no return
Cessation of cessations
‘Fallacy of misplaced concreteness’
An end to spectrum of living
To the living the dead never die:
They are always with us
In songs, stories and legacies
They may fly away never to be seen
Only on JUDGEMENT DAY
The rest is for us to live right
Walking the old paths wherein our Fathers walked
For there are no bands in death.

Details | Ohiozoba Ehiede Poem

Adieu Papa Madabe

A patriarch, legend, family man,
A moral compass,
An arc of proprietary leadership
With octopus creeping advancements
Inducing pomiferous effects
Africa’s epitome of
Struggle against racial oppression
The Great Madabe :
An iconic glistering personality
Held the jugular of
Erstwhile oppressors spell-bound.
According to him :
‘Exhausted all peaceful means’
Spear-headed weapons of warfare
To tackle this gamut
Rivonia Trials :
Black face in White Court,
White Court in Black Country,
Black Country White Ruled,
A sizzling paradox.
An illustrious Amicus Curiae
Who ought to ensure
Right persons do not
Travail in Court
Travailed but prevailed.
In Prison :
Remained a dignifying character,
Bubbling with unending
Vigour and vitality
Though sequestered within
The prison’s iron-gates
The ideals he stood for
Could not be suppressed
With draconian laws,
Separatist illusions cum policies.
Prisoner of conscience
A.K.A. 46664  Robben Island
His heart for his people
Obviously exhibited by
Willing sacrifice of 
His freedom for countless numbers.
A multifarious personality :
A former herdsboy,
Won the Almighty God’s Heart
In tendering the herd
He saw another King David
Mindful of His creation
Nkosi  Dalibonga,
Elder Statesman,
World Ambassador,
Amicus Curiae,
Exemplary Leader,
Reconciler of his nation,
Negotiator of peaceful end to Segregation.
Papa Madabe,
Indeed had a heart
For the people
No wonder God 
Emplaced him as 
The Primus Black African
To preside over his Country.
The Last Journey :
Home going,
From Pretoria,
The Military C-130 Hercules Jet
Hurtled through the morning skies
Landed safely at Mthatha Airport,
Eastern Cape Province
Where this son of a Chief
Spent the happiest years 
Of his childhood.
Last Parade :
Colour Party of White and Black faces
Previously unheard of
A resounding result of the Struggle,
Carry Matata Madabe’s remains
To the dark coloured hearse
Amidst full
Presidential Honours…
Adieu Great Madabe
You were a Great light
Now in the far beyond,
Good night for your passage
Has caused an irreparable
Generational chasm for
Years to come.

Details | Ohiozoba Ehiede Poem

Flame of My Heart

It developed as a fiery glow
Burning with intense passion
My whole being agog
With floods of emotions
What a nightmare
As a butterfly voice 
The day we met
The flame was lit
An Everlasting Love
So it has become
The flame posits
The extra mile transcended
Thinking about you
Hoping, longing and wishing
Waiting for the kiss
One kiss, one moment
Not the Sacred Fruit
Why I love you
You kindle my heart’s flame
Even with the years past
The story the same
You are beautiful
You are the one
The flame of my heart.

Details | Ohiozoba Ehiede Poem

The Malignant Ulcer

I see this ulcer
Mind boggling in perception
Body arresting in phenomena
Of diverse shapes and designs
Magnificently wrought together
In one whiff of putrid scent
It is of an exotic nature
Magnanimously growing out of context
Thus ticking with apocalyptic dimensions  
Of the many continents sprawled around 
They inadvertently bore this ulcer.
Dynamic as it is overwhelming
Random as it is infectious
No remedy yet in sight.
I see many wailing
In tear furrowed concertos
At the gnawing pangs of this ill.
Even in fathomless abyss
Where many died in its ignorance
Many will still take the path
Leaders of men and men of leaders
All cringing in this transient euphoric blues
A few remain steadfast
Unmarked by thesenucleic blues.
Many philosophers philosophized
Many scientists systematized
Leading to absurdioreductio
Even theories ad infinitum
Were so churned by learned men
Leaving us at a loss
So much for their show of knowledge
One philosopher once said:
Ruler be philosophers or 
Philosophers be better rulers
To whom many shouted down
An egg-headed prescribed Machiavelli’s
Antidote,
In this misty vortex 
Many proffered remedies
But none did assuage the ulcer blues
I saw it spread yesterday
A quantum leap today
In high and low places
This ulcer manifested itself
Amongst the rich, so the poor
In the rich as green as plants
In the plebian as opaque as diamond
You miss it not in the rich
The back leash so conspicuous
Would have been so with the plebian,
Had the opportunity arose
Of this lot
Do they seek solace in religion?
With hope of a brighter day 
In vain they seek
When inwardly accountable
One so was
From a distant liberated land 
Gaunt faced when ascended
The stately Dias
Was none to remember there?
His ulcer so great
It grew out of proportions
Affected his ego
Destroyed his sanity
Till all but two of his comrades decimated;
With him being decimated by one of them
A race begun for man
To cure this cantankerous ulcer
In vain no effort was worthwhile
The race was aborted midstream
Since none could this ulcer cure
Why not propagate the ulcer more?
For the second time
Another race began
This was so ferocious, desiccating
Brutal and callous
Unprecedented than previous
Inducing sterility into man’s
Inner soul
Alas I noticed everybody
This ulcer had
In their breaths, smiles, eyes, hearts
Limbs and souls.
No wonder one, the depraved theory of
Man propounded,
In this, system of ulcer patients patented
This ulcer so was great
Many went reveling still
Of all these were two major ones
Pronounced to the ailing revelers ill.
Can the sick actually cure the ill?
In reverse we sped
The whole system turgidly
Anti-clockwise in design
The laws of nature defied
Never have I seen in this life
Where two huts were chosen
For the ailing revelers
Two huts only
For a diverse people,
A polyglot crowd.
And I looked towards the oval kingdom
Where everyone wears the same ill face
A stranger to these parts will be at a loss
To differentiate a brother from a friend.
Here their yellow coloured ulcer
Urged them to annihilate 
The youthful lives of some
At a particular square gathered.
Equality is man’s birth right
Democracy will surely take precedence 
Before the designs of Oligarchy.
And lo across
Their neighbours came to view
Oval faces in the eastern mist
Rare gift to the science of machines.
This people where book and rest
Give them consanguity to Romans
Could stand the nucleic pains no longer
Some went looking for bread to eat
Others sought remedy in their ruler’s palace
Ultimately, the prince and his princess
Were staked under the mid-day sun
What a script to enact!
There is always a price-tag
Attached to men’s deeds
Little wonder an egg-head once said:
The tree of liberty must surely be refreshed 
From time to time
With the blood of patriots and tyrants
This ulcer continued to spread
With many cringing from its biting stabs
What antidote could arrest this dote?
Then one having an ulcer on his tongue
Summoned courage to pronounce amiss
In a State where eagles fly,
That the ulcer was not so painful yet
Until many picked from cabbage bins.
Very shortly the same took a flight
When the gun became law:
They wanted him to take his stand
But he had gone with the wind

Details | Ohiozoba Ehiede Poem

On the Wall

On the wall standing

Amidst the danger encroaching

Mirrors the alligator’s razors

Securely entrenched in mud waiting

A boa slides into the deep...

The seconds tick amicably.

A table for two served yet again

Another tango about to be untangled

Periodic busts of water

Jet from the sighing sea...

A canoe capsizes

In this noonday medley

A suckling amidst the troubled current

Heads gaily for the sea’s bed...

Another scene, the serene sea

Running a sapid gold hue

Allows a fluttering dove above admiringly

To the nonchalant glare

In the distant horizon

Of the setting sun.

Afar the mongrels howl

At grotesque elements from hade...

Suddenly Andromeda hurtles through the sky

In search of her Medusa-defeated lover

Provoking Hercules into a riotous laughter

As its echoes furious might does Atlantis in...

Details | Ohiozoba Ehiede Poem

On the Boat

On the boat
Swaying and tossing
Waves and ripples
Hands together
Hearts together
Land in sight
Yet miles away.
Paddles broken
Yet flapping
No stopping
At slapping
The silvery surface.
A course chartered for rough waters
The boat image
Divine inspiration
Fires the activists
A tedious delve
Into life and teachings
Of the Master.

Billows of prayerful reflection
The journey is on
A sturdy boat
In mixed weather
Knees to knees
Legs to legs
Notoriously unpredictable.
A head-wind approaches
The boat sways
Bales of water
Swept out
Leaky but unsinkable.
Our choice unchanged
To remain on the boat
We take our chances
An inexhaustible mystery of faith

Details | Ohiozoba Ehiede Poem

Mimi Kanawa

Mimi Kanawa lives on

A sore thumb in the rain

Creditor she preferred

A debtor she stood like a trout to bait

Hunger swallowed her so

But death stung her not

Being a hard row to hoe.

Mimi Kanawa made a parting with the road

That was so well made

The price overtook her

Repeatedly on this road

Though nothing lasts forever

Her gaze will always reign

For from her timeless gaze

Nothing will erase

Until I tell this tale

Of a fate too true to be stale

Best Poems Written by Ohiozoba Ehiede

The Apple of My Eye

As Lovely Mannequins

At a Funeral

There Are No Bands In Death

Adieu Papa Madabe

Flame of My Heart

The Malignant Ulcer

On the Wall

On the Boat

Mimi Kanawa