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Elixir

Canto 1: Elixir 
In days of eld
When moonlight danced on dew,
There’s Otin, a wondrous soul,
Did stroll from town to town, 
With laughter's role, and gourd, and tapping rod.
His wine, 
 —a sweet elixir, tapped with care;
Did bring joy to all, and banish despair.
With every drop, 
—a tale of merriment spun,
As folk, in revelry, their cares had done.
Their cups, overflowing with delight;
Did sparkle like the sun, in morning's light.

Canto 2: The Envy
But lo, a foe arose, with malice in heart,
And from the crowd rose Eniyan, false knight.
With serpent tongue he whisper’d to the throne,
“O King, shall thou let madness breed and groan?
This Otin’s sap be poison sweetly dress’d—
The people sway, in folly now they rest!
If thou act not, the realm shall surely fall,
To revelry and drunken bacchanal!”
The king, deceived by guile, didst heed his plea,
And banished Otin, with haste, from the tree.
Little didst he know, the people's hearts would ache,
For Otin's absence, and their joy would break.

Canto 3: The  Decree
At cock’s first cry,
The guards, with solemn faces, did arrive
With message dire, and Otin's heart did strive.
“O tapper of the vine, thy time is done—
Thy gift hath brought more ruin than the sun!”
"What transgression have I wrought?”— he did implore,
"That brings this fate, and banishment's score?"
But law is blind, and power quick to judge,
They cast him forth with neither plea nor grudge.
They said his sap did rot the minds of men,
That joy too great would damn the world again.
And so he fled, with heavy heart and tread,
To lands where silent rivers weep instead.

Canto 4: Exile's Solace
With sorrow's weight, 
Otin did cross the stream,
To find solace with Bamboo—his trusted dream.
Bamboo
—a friend, with heart so true,
Didst welcome Otin, and his tale anew.
For Bamboo knew the hearts of men were frail,
That envy oft in golden words did veil.
“Rest here,” he said, 
“for I have seen their guise,
With honey’d mouths and dagger in disguise.”
Together they did dwell—
Far from the madding crowd.

Canto 5: The Regret
But absence stings, and joyless grew the land,
The drums fell silent.
Though feasts were held and fires stoked with might,
No laugh did soar into the star-kissed night.
The people moaned, their souls in ashes lay,
And cried, 
“Bring Otin back, lest life decay!”
E’en Eniyan, whose heart had once betrayed,
Now walked in gloom, in shame and guilt arrayed.
The King arose and sought wise Oga’s aid—
“O Seer, where lies the one we’ve sore dismayed?”
And Oga spake, 
“Across the sacred tide,
With Bamboo dwells the tapper in his pride.”

Canto 6: The Counsel
The king with entourage, did cross the river's flow;
They journey’d far through thorn and storm and wave,
To Bamboo's dwelling, where Otin did bestow.
The king did plead, with humility's tone,
"Otin, forgive, and return to thy throne."
But Otin, with wisdom, did decline the call,
And Bamboo did speak, with words so small.
"Though Otin won't return, his gift remains,
In Bamboo's sap, the best wine still sustains."
The king did learn, with gratitude's heart,
To tap Bamboo's sap, and play his part.

FINIS. 

Copyright © Akinloye Gbajero Sunday | Year Posted 2025

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