Rustling Grass

Not even the dreaded woodlands can make me this frigid tonight

Eyes shot, ears raised, heart beating like festive drums

The horrid fear of the known, ached pleasure for the familiar unknown

The certainty of what to come, the mask neatly placed on what I sense

So close I feel the scent of it, yet my hands cannot reach its edges

Through the windows of my mind the truth to me slowly unfolds

With precision sharper than the samurai sword my doubts had me

Will it be the oak tree that will fall? Or the rise of dry lands out to the deep blue?

Queries that circuits my curious mind from dawn to dusk!

Should I take off or simply slide away into the night like an owl?

The voice I hear are close to home, once I danced to these eccentric tunes

Over the horizon something glides towards my shaky steady feet

Transfixed in my perfect confusion and overwhelmed with exhausted hope

Yet, there is still this painful melodious rustling of the grass!

Omo-Ekun, Ilu-Nla

April 12, 2017

Joó na tán

14 Years A Sinner

Oh heavens! forgive me for I have sinned

To the sacred crescent I come with my bag of wrongs

I have stolen, cheated and stabbed my 'friends'

I have dug a deep hole in the back of my rivals

For those I love I plundered the ivory treasury

For those I hate I became a knighted by the emir

A worthy compensation for the Ijmag agenda

The desert written script for my hallowed crusade

Oh the sweet gate of al jannah! To thee I match for votes

Visit not on me the sin of fourteen moons away

Hands, feet, mouth and sacred members I have washed

Please make this tinge be gone at once!

Oh the roofs I have to lift for the rain to strike

My heat sinks just thinking of how hard it was for him

Please show me the graves of those gone to rest

For peace their Epitaphs I will re-write in Gold

Shackles surely will fit my wrists walahi

If only they know how much the counsels cost

From high to supreme I dragged our rectitude

Only to be told my appeal will get a better chance with God!

Now my dreams to rein is about to be plundered

Nightmares of the monster called USSA

Shivers from the faces of Aluta I slaughtered

Oh! that heaven will grant me sweet rectitude

Deliverance from 49 sprites that daily torments my peace

                                                      Omo-Ekun, Ilu Nla.

Our Baale is a Learner

Today I did the unusual

I sat waiting to be told on NTA some real stuff

Little did I know I was in for the usual?

Baale never cease to thwart walahi

Once again Baale took the doubters to the cleaners

I am a learner he exclaimed! And so what?

I remember Baale’s coronation

Dancing and wriggling of waists that now lies in waste

Baale’s wife a true spectacle to behold

Her ways with words, even the ancestors wouldn’t dare

Now almost four seasons we still battle with masquerades

But wait, Baale will learn on the job!

Surrounded by many tale tellers Baale declares

No Baale can learn like I do!

So Baale how do we find the missing village pots they asked?

Lets the oracles in the next village help he declares

To Baale, tears and blood should be flow like a river

The second coronation party will not be postponed!

With fear I received the news of the impending visit of the masquerade

But wait, can’t the Baale order the village hunters to town?

Why can’t the palace guards keep the palace jail securely fastened?

It's two weeks and hundreds of precious village pots are still missing?

Why has the Baale’s wife taken up the job of the hunters?

Oh…..how did I forget…our Baale is a Learner!

                                                                           Omo-Ekun, Ilu Nla!

Under the Umbrella

In the rain we have wept for years

Hoping and wishful thinking about shelter

A refuge from hurt, fear and grieve

If only we have a tenth of our own

If only we can fill the boxes with hope

On the match again we chanted in our wet drenched suits

Progress! Progress! Our lungs hurt with expectation

Well, fellow Nigerians and the rest is history

Our rains became hurricane, flooding our hopes away

In chains we all lived our days, at night we only had the stars

Even the poets were not spared, returned to the earth with his pen!

When will we ever going to have our robes dry, when?

Suddenly the Iroko fell! Felled by the forbidden fruits from south of the east

In loud ovation we danced, finally the stallion will make the tenth

that same night, the stallion was put down before dawn

And yet again under the horrendous rain we stood!

The eagles came home, the owl came back

Years in exile had beaten our birds like a whip

99 was the magic number, prison was the place to be for some

Frap! The umbrella went up! Finally we are saved from the cold

Only of we knew what was in that well, sadly,we all drank in ecstasy

14 moons has passed and the umbrella brought more rain than the Amazon

Death, debt and deep damage, rot beyond the deep Dead Sea

Lifelong lack and living less, lonely and low under the Umbrella!

June 13

How come I don’t get it?

What is this malignant song all about?

I heard the cat was skinned by the rat

So what? Should the world cease to exist?

From Adam, Cain and Abel has been at it

Years of sharing the spoil without a noise

So why should last night lose its poise?

Or the devil has suddenly changed its side?

The headlines and footnotes all seem to care

Of whom they grew and dine with wine

Justice oh, those fairy tales sucker!

Fairness his sister always in between the fights

Yesterday was a reminder of you loss

That huge coffin carried by the ants

Deprived of the crumbs, sugar and water

All the ants need to stay alive and strong

Now the will the dead, 20 years and fresh

Eulogies from around the clan

Even this year the clowns sang a solo

The melodies of skulls filled with rot

Yesterday was a painful prompt

We lost it a long time ago, yes we did drop it!

Now the rats are even more daring

With big bowels and vacant cavities

So the squirrels are now drawn to the game

A nightmare this is sure must be!

Only to roll over and check my clock!

It’s Thursday June 13, 2013!

                            Omo-Ekun- Ilu-Nla

On the March Again!

We are on the march again
Beating the same drums we bought from the queen
The same tunes that was played at our christening
Wait! Something is familiar with this dance
The merry-go-round move that ends with a smash
The falling of the dancers and dropping without a bounce
 Again we start planning for the next trip a day we came home
Fighting for the best seat on the caravan that never seizes to fail
That’s my spot Olu screamed! Segun is driving so what?
Every trip the numbers fall, the coffin at least must be sold
All the supplies gone before the camels rise
Hopes dashed as if it was a game
 1520 is the year of the Gods
The battle between evil and the evil makers
Many said it’s a gentle ride from the start
Now we know the dangers of a quiet peaceful lake
Solemn, silent, snake with sinister venom
Don’t worry about its bite, we will be dancing again!

                                                                                                             Omo-Ekun '13

Prisoners at Will

I am a prisoner in my own home

The only difference is that I have the keys

My bars are cut to exactly to my size

The walls I built with my own biceps

The Parish priest blessed the foundations

Even my enemies celebrated the completion

I am the hunted in my own jungle

A prey to the mouth I fed with grace

Edible game to the spouses of those I freely give

Their dane riffles, I polish with my tax

The pallets we casted in my fathers foundry

Now like I chicken I have gone for the roast

Suddenly, I am told to lock up

My jailers thousand of miles away but,

Sit in your cell! He screams, or be fed to the desert dogs

The fear of the dogs or the screams of the jailer

Both the source of eternal fright

Just last week the dogs eat them all in onak!

Now I have to dig my borrow deeper

With a thousand escape routes to puzzle the hunters

Down! Down!! I dug till I found myself in the zoo

At least, here the hunters are out of bounds

But thought of the forest still makes me wonder

How many prisoners at will will ever get their freedom!

                                                    Omo-Ekun, Ilu-nla '13

Brain dead

On the chop board of history we glory lay
Expecting to be grilled with rage once again
With the demented bouquet of our collective idiocy
A sweet meal to the hills of the gods we sober serve
Their tables we set in relished ache
Even though their crumbs are out of bounds,
yet the smell of their air makes us chortle

We sit and watch this uproarious pun
A scene where the characters eat our fats
Of our choosiest wine they gulp with impunity
Oh! What a clamorous applause we give!
The second, third and fourth scene wasn’t different
All they do is dance, win, dine and mingle
Even though we see some occasional scuffles
In the evening we watch them eat some waffles

Now the party has started again
I mean under the cloud that rains cowries
Singing the song of victory without a sword sharpened!
Like swarm the stockholders move under the rain
Hoping to harvest some ‘fallings’
All my countrymen could do is take some notes
Wonder if one day they’ll take a test
Under the tree because the school is eroded
A nation flooded with chronic amnesia

                                       Omo-Ekun, Ilu-Nla

STRUCK!

Like a lightning, your memory of flashes through my mind

Blurring all thoughts that lacks your scent

Just like a hurdle, my heart skips at your voice

Pounding like the bombs on falling on Holms

 This feeling is sweet even without a drop of honey

Like a Berlin wall my defense fell

And all the excuses vanished like vapor

Deep in my mind I know it is well

In your angelic arms I know I had found favour

Even a train will halt to catch a glimpse of your beauty

With you in my hands your love is my duty

Baby your rock my world!

Elvis will sure be jealous of your skills

Sweetie you knock my fears

Tyson will shiver at your moves

What a time of our lives to love and be loved

This had better not be a dream

Baby mi nothing do you!

Wondering where you learnt to love like this

To learn, grow, support and cherish

So it is you have waited for at the station

And like a sniper you stuck my heart

Skillfully from the top of the rock called Aso

And your weapon is simply simplicity

I am stock and am glad am down

I don’t want to recover from this hit

Even with all the medics around like swarms

I will rather recuperate in your bosom

Struck I am and struck I will be!

                                                Omo-Ekun, Ilu-Nla

A song for October

Shame, shame, shame and shame

Shame to those who shave our heads and share our herds

Shame to the men who rape our soil and reap our toil

Shame to those gods who suck our oils and prick our boils

Shame to ghosts who cut our pay and eat our hay

Down, down, down and down

Downhill we will throw their caskets and throw their buckets

Downhill will their chalet erode and their chattel corrode

Downhill their face shall look with a sting

Downhill shall be their new abode

Up, up, up and up

Up here we will sing, dance and rejoice

Up in the mountains of a new found land of sanity

Up in the air our inglorious past and leaders will be hung

Up there shall be tell our sons to look and learn

Come, come, come and come

Come together and form a bond for the imminent

Come to an covenant that we will now shine on the continent

Come and shake the hands that fought the squanders

Come into a new nation full of conquerors

                                                         -Omo-ekun, Ilu- Nla

Tears still flow…..

It’s a full year since you called

It’s a full moon once again

It still looks like a dream

Can someone wake me from this torpor?

Yes, you left and am here

Times sooths all pains I thought

Robbing my heart like a balm from china

Maybe I need to look ahead

Peeping into the horizon of uncertainty

By chance I might meet another you next life

Many boring moments I have endured

Even with legion of bodies around

None matches your piousness

Even though you never long for the society

You are a queen worth giving the cathedra

Tear still flow gorgeous

Not because I miss you dearly

My heart aches less dearly

Solely because I lost the box

The chest where I kept my adulation for you.

                             -Omo-Ekun, Ilu-Nla

Finding Nakniyo!

Amidst the clusters of the cosmopolitan planes

The cat growls of thirst for the tang 

Deep beneath the earth crust is the hidden code of pleasure

All over the soul freely flows anxiety

If only this wait can cease tonight!

Now my bait is low and lost

This golden fish seem gone on vacation into the deep

Dreading the worm like a poison 

Like peter am weary of the catch

Even the great one will marvel at my inertia

serveral treasure hunters have scavenged the hills

Penetrating the dreaded groves to have a look

Still, your secret is sealed like the lost arc!

When will this storm cease

The hurricane of despair constantly pounding my heart

With the force sterner than that an atomic bomb

Hiroshima beside my heart is paradise!

Alas! Finally Nakniyo Came

So sudden that I lost my breath

The years of waiting vanished like the dew

Nakniyo was smoother than samurai sword

Quicker than the greyhound at a hunt

Behold the world of Nakniyo was dark!

now how know why my line didn't move

Who says Nakniyo is not whole?

What can match this living edifice?

even though am tired to her like ram fit for slaughter

I will die like a fish and stay out of the water

All because I have found Nakniyo!

                                   Omo-Ekun, Ilu-Nla

LAST STRIKER

Yet again the red light bleeped

Awaking me from the depth of my trance

Has boko-haram struck again I thought

Maybe finally the perpetual injunction has been stabbed

Something somewhere most be sinister from the west

Too bad a state of mind, but what can I do

Like the Titanic my heart went down

Wholly drown in pain as if from the pitch

Yekini is dead I muttered to my brain

Dead is Rashidi he screamed at me!

Isn’t life expectancy 48 for men my brain queried?

Like a fool I sat starring at my mirror

Another sacrifice for the gods of the Niger

Breed for the kill and groomed for the roast

To the heaven our souls were lifted by him in ‘94

To the grave we fastened his carcass before night fell

His striking was like thunder when the gods drink liquor

He has lost him wits and skills we now all chorus

Once again one of the boundless is gone

At 49 we left a striker to be stricken stiff by expiry

Nine was the number but the cat is dead

My childhood hero, I know you are livid

Mad at the gods for leaving you to sink like that

Rest on Great one, rest on Nigeria’s last Super striker

                                                    -Omo-Ekun, Ilu-Nla

                                                        

Chaos by Design!

The sea roars and whimpers with aquatic pleasure

Breaking the boats and drowning the feeble

The oceans are deep but cruel to a fault

Swallowing the earth to its tip

Yet we sail in gold and lust on its glides

We eat its seed and rub its juice!

The wind moves like the cheetahs

Rushing through the street leaving tears and groans

Oh! My roof is gone I hear

Yet we swim thousands of meters into its belly

Without care of fear we hop into the moving cave

And dropping dead to the wait of our lovers!

The west and east wrestle to death

Holding each other at the jugular from Adam

Many have left in the rain

Some have stayed and lived their hell on earth

Still, we buy and sell

We nourish on swords and shields

And our nation booms with blood!

Luciana has suffered many storms

Katrina raped her clean

Yet my prof. sees another chance

To make his storm top the chat

Praying the horror will come

And a chance to Christian the monster

At least he will get the honor!

Amidst life’s confusion I see the stars

Unnamed, untamed and yet unmoved!

He architect of the galaxy most be s freak!

To have created so much confusion for the mortals,

but only if they could perceive this trick….

That chaos is all we need to grow

                                          Omo-Ekun, Ilu-Nla

Let’s work it out

If there is no work to be done,

The moon would have stuck to a point

If there is no need to sail the seven seas,

The Oceans would have lumped like a gum

If there is no need for life,

The “Big Bang” would still be expected like the messiah.

Like the Japanese Legend of “Panku” I hip up my thoughts

All making several big bits of my emotions

Drowning me in continuous flow of lethargy

In the mist of life’s mystification birds still sing with careless but melodious glee… 

Ignoring the rain and annoying the elements

After all life is beautiful!

Who says the West and East cannot go hare hunting?

Who ever thought Gadaffi will apologize to Bush?

Would even Galileo have though about going to the moon?

Napoleon could have been scared to fight in the gulf!

Lo! Life is filled with pleasant surprises

Dear friend, you are pleasantly surprising

Existence is but an opportunity to burnish

A chance to prove that the universe is not big enough

Every minute spent with you is an adventure

Even Jack sparrow will dread my guts!

I will burn each and every calorie to make you smile

Knowing your smile glows like the globe

Am in the gym of time sweating my love out

Squeezing every bit of passion in my system

We can work this out before its dawn and down

Living a dream built and not bought with tears

This can be bright as the stars and soothing like a balm

If only we have our shoes laced tonight!

                                                                                          Omo-Ekun, Ilu-Nla