Held as captives in a ship
Chains binding us together
Hunger, but we could not starve
Tears but we could not cry.
We were warriors of our land
Children of the soil
May the gods forbid that our ancestors would look us in shame.
And so together,
We ambushed our captors
And sank the ship
It was better to die
Than be slaves in a foreign land.
Categories:
igbo, africa, culture, death, freedom,
Form: Free verse
Igbo words for the feared mostly high tone
Perfectly matching what rattles The Bone
Her lexis for Death, Python, Snake - Fire
And it’s like speaker screaming, pitch higher!
So also Poison’s, Madness’ - ‘The Unpleasant’
Anger’s, Bullet’s - one can’t call The Pleasant
A Language quite tonally consistent
With ideas that The Pitch makes insistent…
Still stops not here The High-High tone feature,
For it does reflect on Paired-Up feature:
Igbo words for Two Eyes, Hands, Legs – nostrils…
Linguists had better like me feel the thrills.
Categories:
igbo, education, language, meaningful, perspective,
Form: Rhyme
The un-clouded blank sky says it all
As no smile nor anger is expressed above
The withering grasses express the pain
As the foggy air attests to its harshness
The drying streams hope for wetter days
As the birds have to travel far for just a drink
The soil cracks in pains of dehydration
As all await the rains to replenish and reawaken
The rains must come when it is it's season
For that purpose that it will serve in the cycle
The inhabitants of earth must survive and live
To perpetuate the undulating cycle of life
Categories:
igbo, earth, endurance, environment, february,
Form: Free verse
The feeling-cheated Igbo of Nigeria
Now judges her a worse malaria,
To keep celebrating Donald Trump
While bemoaning his angering dump …
But plans he to start smiling at Biden,
For one should often one’s options widen,
When at stake is life-transforming Crude oil,
With huge pipes channeling it to far-off soil.
The Fast-choking-with-anger Igbo
Might start an emergency Judo
For an ending of his humiliation,
That took off from the day of assimilation.
Now, I see a colder shoulder
To all Negotiation Tables,
A Stone-throwing kid trying a boulder,
And hangmen’s dropping of ropes for cables.
Already, it’s a kung fu- movie – watching people,
Disturbingly worshipped by their cripple.
Categories:
igbo, anxiety, conflict, corruption, money,
Form: Rhyme
Mother
Better lose the saddle than the horse’.
Every mother’s voice echo these 7 words
To her child, not just out of love,
Not entirely for love but for joy.
The joy of motherhood.
This life will be hard (they say)
Nwa m, ma o ga-adiri gi mma
She assures her young child.
n’ihi na o buru na nwatakiri adighi
Enwe oganihu o no n’aka nne
The pains of motherhood.
A mother is a child’s guide through life.
Come, follow me, close your eyes
Think of the rose, and let us go;
She said to her child at birth.
The duty of motherhood.
Nne enweghi onu ahia
A woman who has children, does not die.
She is a mother, in life and beyond.
Her name forever in the hearts of her children
And their children.
Her presence felt through memories when she’s gone.
Every child will grow up,
Age and fade off with time.
This life cycle of ours is like a river,
It goes and comes.
But a mother’s milk is priceless.
Godwin Henry Osaigbovo Pa Shakespeare
SPEAREPOETRY
Categories:
igbo, mom, mother, mother daughter,
Form: Ode