My Folk Song

Amadioha the great god of Thunder and Justice We have gathered at the shrine of Alusi’gwe To pour libations to you Even as I do my folk song Bring me the ogene, to awaken the spirit of my Forbearers to witness the doomsday they foretold Give me the udu, to sound out a warning to the futureman Give me the oja, the special voice of oganigwe the dreaded masquerade Give the shekere, so that the women of owu can shake their enchanted waist In love and tranquillity we lived with our neighbours, doing our folk song Buddha called out to Lord Brahman Set aside a room for me in the inner chamber Decorated with beautiful ornaments, to depict love and care Flanked with candles and incense burner and the beautiful statue of the wise man To help me escape from the corruption of this world As I attempt to wake from hatred of neighbours Focusing on love and purity of heart Allow me do my folk song living in tranquillity with nature and neighbours Christed you said you are, servant of the son of God sent from above Your brother claimed that you are a messenger from Allah What is this confusion I see, contradicting even your folk song You came with a sweet tongue of love, yet all I see is terrorism and A holy war fought by crusaders crushing the bones of the unbelievers Those who worship idols yet lived a life akin to nature – a life of love You have created a polarised world of Christed men with less shame for evil Of religious women without morals Of Ulamas who feed on the sweat of Almagiris Oh Christ! is this the gospel you preached on the street of Nazareth? O! Mohamed is this the Rasuul you preached in Mecca O! God what we do in your Name, we should be afraid of doing even in the dark Allow me to return home To my folk song In African theism, to the shrines of Alusi’gwe, To do my folk song with Oganigwe the beautiful masquerade To solicit corn and groundnuts from old women with sagging breasts Chasing the kids with a whip in my hand as I wear the mask of the spirit A spirit of sportsmanship, of equity and love, of fair play and brotherhood. Allow me do my folk song