ONCE UPON A TIME (A POEM) BY GABRIEL OKARA

Once upon a time, son,
 they used to laugh with their hearts
 and laugh with their eyes:
 but now they only laugh with their teeth,
 while their ice-block-cold eyes
 search behind my shadow.

 There was a time indeed
 they used to shake hands with their hearts:
 but that’s gone, son.
 Now they shake hands without hearts
 while their left hands search
 my empty pockets.

 ‘Feel at home!’ ‘Come again’:
 they say, and when I come
 again and feel
 at home, once, twice,
 there will be no thrice-
 for then I find doors shut on me.

 So I have learned many things, son.
 I have learned to wear many faces
 like dresses – homeface,

 Gabriel Okara
 Gabriel Okara
 officeface, streetface, hostface,
 cocktailface, with all their conforming smiles
 like a fixed portrait smile.

 And I have learned too
 to laugh with only my teeth
 and shake hands without my heart.
 I have also learned to say,’Goodbye’,
 when I mean ‘Good-riddance’:
 to say ‘Glad to meet you’,
 without being glad; and to say ‘It’s been
 nice talking to you’, after being bored.

 But believe me, son.
 I want to be what I used to be
 when I was like you. I want
 to unlearn all these muting things.
 Most of all, I want to relearn
 how to laugh, for my laugh in the mirror
 shows only my teeth like a snake’s bare fangs!

 So show me, son,
 how to laugh; show me how
 I used to laugh and smile
 once upon a time when I was like you.