empty gourds of palmwine clanging at the palace gates
though I have not seen a drunk King
Akogun! We have lost the battle again
where are the men of war?
but how? could men have conquered demons
with burning torches.
.
the last masquerade to dance
at the village square a moon ago
did not remember on anyone to pounce
neither did put on a dress of pines
of leaves, spines and pines like an apple.
.
our ears tilted with barrels of empty words
of men that did lord over war
of how the demons abducted their wives
of how scared they became to shoot their guns
that these men were not men but gods
.
agba ki wa loja kori omo titun o wo
the head of infants are kept straight when elders are in town
but there existed old fools in this place
safe, save a virtuous mother of ages
Moremi, thy tribute I bring.
.
a wild sizzling breeze sizzled
satan is here again in body
but mother would not look on
that the dignity of her kingdom evade
in a night or escape into a gas of tiny plumules.
.
you shouldnt have carried mother away,
o forest demons
you have murdered your immortality
on the slab of lust
and stabbed your awe in the face of beauty.
.
chaotic escapade
narrow escape – mother is back
but they came again for mother had escaped
put on your burning torches, Akogun instructed
and demons sighed their last in the face of burning sticks.
.
Ile-Ife: the centre of intellect you are
Oluronbi! how you became a sacrificial lamb
Moremi: your bones still breath
for we have won, Balogun announced.
