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Muna Chuma-Udeh Poem
The song of my love is heard
It travels over Seas and mountains
Bearing cadences that make the fishes dance
It frolics over hills and oceans
With rhythms that adorn the eyes of the sun
Sniffing the scented air that enflames the smouldering harmattan ash
Dancing with the guileless glee of a soul at ease
My love wakes
Glowing with the shimmers of sunrise
As it emerges with the pleasure of a shy bride
Rising in slow degrees from the east coast of India
Glimmering as the mirror of the stream flows with easy glide
Shining like the smiles of the unbridled sun as it beams with pride
Gliding with lazy grandeur like the procession of a Royal entourage
My love breathes
It inhales the sharp scent of burning wood
And savours the sweet smell of the lilacs that bloom
The breath of my love gives life to hyacinths
Shrunken and withered and makes them blossom anew
It is warm like the caress of wool on a night of chilly cuddle
It's journey down the spine generates shudders of flurry relish
My love sees
It stares with eyes that sparkle
Like the flash of lightening on a sultry night
Piercing the flesh as it comes in contact with the soul
The eyes of my love are sharp
Swifter than the swoop of an eagle on a chick guarded by the hen
It is strong like the hammer of Thor
And it makes mountains crash like an avalanche
It is hotter than the smite of the sun at its peak
And it melts the heart frozen like ice
My love grows
It feeds on smiles that clouds tears
Subsumed by the tapestry of the sun's golden gaze
It thrives on the rhapsody of gleesome hearts
Dancing as they laugh in unrestricted boisterousness
My love is a story
Told on nights of twilight beauty
As lasses blush before flames that smolder
And lads boast of valiant feats unachieved
It is that song sang as the arms of the wind spread over herbages
Clothing them with perfumes that issue from dancing hibiscuses
It is the hidden hymn of covenant
Sang beneath the lustrous peek of sleeping stars
When the transient sneer of the sun hide behind the moon's smile
Copyright © Muna Chuma-Udeh | Year Posted 2017
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Muna Chuma-Udeh Poem
Yesterday we cried, we wept for the loss of peace
Last night, we both mourned the demise of tranquility
We yearned in futility for that quietude
That made our spirits flutter
We bemoaned the annihilation of that calmness
That gave life to our souls
We clustered, finding solace in each other
Looking up to the skies for console and comfort
Finding nothing but the glitter of the stars
And the half smile of the moon
As right down at us it starred
Offering nothing but its shiny and piercing light
Amadi, yesterday you heard it first
You singled out the sound of the gong
Amidst the cacophony of juggling and music and noise
You told me that you hear the gong sounding
You held my head still to make me hear
But like the woodpecker, I refused to listen,
I let my revelry drown my sense of listening
Last night, that time when we snuggled up together
When we turned to each other for security none could provide
When joy burned low like the embers of half-charred coal
I swore I'll find my eyes even in the darkness
I vowed to wake the sleeping sun
To make it shine again for you and for me
Amadi, listen, I hear that gong sounding again
It's not the same with yesterday
This morning, it sounds with gaiety
Encompassed by the serenity that yesterday was beclouded by anxiety
Yesterday, when the gong sounded,
It bore the echo of uncertainty and the fear of the unknown
Today, it sounds again heralding the onset of hope
And ushering the light of a fresh dawn
Copyright © Muna Chuma-Udeh | Year Posted 2017
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Muna Chuma-Udeh Poem
HOMECALL
Echezona, she calls me home
Remember the grounds upon which you suckled
Remember the voice that weaved your dreams
Remember the warmth that spun your wake
I am the mirror of your future
And I am the shadow of your past
Echezona, she calls me home
I know that back upon which I bestrode
I revere the arms that shook with the melancholy of the uncertain
And yes! I know the voice that hummed the melody of my dreams
I sniff the fragrance of your smell
It is smoke and camwood and ash
It is also the sweat of decades of tilling
Echezona, she calls me home
She calls me to the root where my cord is buried
See I set out on a homeward bound journey
I carry my vagrant feet, weary with years of turbulence
I drag myself to that place
Where the flames of my fathers lie smouldering
I return; I walk the paths I learnt to live
Echezona, she calls me home
See, the rain of fortune falls right here
Upon that roof your searching eyes failed to meet
Your strength lies beneath those skies
Upon that soil you fought your first fight
The laughter of the sun is generous
It brightens the threshold that housed your naked years
Echezona, she calls me home
Forget not the songs of your warrior ancestors
Forget not the dance of victory that thumped the soil you thread
I am drawn to this homestead; this land of many tears and laughter
I return to dance the dance of the great
I return, a sojourner bearing songs that sprout upon my soil
Copyright © Muna Chuma-Udeh | Year Posted 2018
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