Philosophical Poetry
I
TIV
Ason Shande
Ior mba ve whum mbela
Ve hemba ga, ka Aonda ahembe
Kwaghi adi wihin we zeo
Ita wan kpev ju yo
Mba Mongo hembe
Man tume nom yongu nguhar
Kpev ase aseo
Tor Labe Gyuse tar u hegen
Wangbian kanan lu sha pywigwa
u va ieren.
M va me dzor ieren.
ENGLISH
Ason Shande
those who locked me are not
above life. Its God who is.
So don’t be angry
A he-goat has been struck
and sheep scattered
and struck a male sheep with a leg
so let the he-goat too laugh now.
Chief Labe Gyuse, in today’s world
when a brother is on the Pyungwa tree
you eat the ripest
So, I’ve come to pluck the ripe one.
II
Iorgbajime
Chan tongu aper amo
tso mwunde ve mwunde veo
He gbya kpa mzurum ga
me kpe tugh tso
Tyo yam kpa ilaghem ga, mse ga
Joseph, angbian, mve me wasem ye
Ngueren Tion Ala Ako
wan kpe jen sha kyum ngo veo
atumba nga ga shinii
Ape dzan kela ngum zeo
Abua kyegh
Kat togh ku me pav akor me loo
pa sule wam mi je ne
kwagh hembamaa.
Iorgbajime
Suffering blows me like a whistle,
so I’m stunted, I’m stunted,
even to my mother’s home, I can’t go
so I’ll die of penury.
My clan too doesn’t favour me
Joseph, brother, that’s why I came for help.
Ngueren Tion Ala Ako
a child has died of hunger on her mother’s lap.
Is there no Milk?
There’s no place for me to go
Abua kyegh
This is the pole with which I’ll
split my yam seedlings and plant
my farm. I’ve failed
III
Wan Imande ngom mama
Ku ka kpandegh ku Alondo
Ter angerugh yo
Shie kuma uta Yamuel vaan zee
Tor Labe Gyuse tar u hegen
u hongur kyor kyange aza bar ga
Tor Labe Gyuse
Nenge are iyo kaa chii tso mfa ga
Mgbide hwangaa
Atim Ate tione Mbalagh
mase baver shagba yilan
Yamuel Yashi
Ka anau ga kpaa we u yuen ga
anau di kpaa we di yuen ga
Daughter of Imande my mother
death is a tax that God
has levied on us; when the time comes
we pay, so I Yamuel, I don’t weep.
Tor Labe Gyuse in today’s world
If you mess up the guinea-fowl meat
won’t go well with salt any longer.
Chief Labe Gyuse, See! the snake
has passed so I struck only it’s path.
Atim Ate of Mbalagh radiates affluence
and says to me “Yamuel, when people
fail to donate to you, you’re never sad
So if I give you, don’t be sad either”.
IV
Mko Agema una nam akovo
Shor chivir or mimi mko
Mko Agema ooo
Mgba yor a mbayev ahse chovom
doo ga
Mko Agema una gba diin
Mo kpa me gba diin
una gba tsegha mo kpa me gba
tsegha tsegha je ahemba tsough
u tsongur
Mko Agema will give me shoes
The dance respects true man mko
Mko Agema
I’ve river-dived with boys
and got my eyes badly infected.
If Mko Agema is heavy, I too will be heavy
If he is unsteady, I’ll be more unsteady than
a rattling musical instrument.
V
Uba Nguemoo
Kpehe shor ke kpya kpa doo ga
Uba Nguemoo
Kpehe shor ke kpya kpa doo ga
Yamuel Yashi a nongo amo
shongi.
Ageba kela chan korom songu
Hembamee yange telem malem tso
kendemo sha chan
Or kanan wundи atsan anan gema
a oron aam.
we yo u kaa nena?
Ngula ka aie kwase wam Wamba
Kough
Mo mzende sha hinda ior mnenge
chan iwuha pir avom.
Wan Agodi ngom mo yo mngu or
kpen
Wea nenge amo ga yo ku tesem
war
Aliveoo mba wanyегh wua nor
Ior a yaan nor kpa ve ya
mo yo me da sor achanger ke wua
Wanchovor nan hanger bushi ga
Err Tyo ngi yemen gudu gudu
Mo kpa mngu van shin hua.
Uba Nguemo
I’ve divined into my pocket
but the result is not good. Uba Nguemo
I’ve divined into my pocket
but the result is not good.
So let Yamuel Yashi help me out
Ageba kela, poverty has slaughtered me
I’m incapable. Since my father gave birth
to me, he threw me into poverty.
A person leaves his own poverty
and speaks of mine.
How is it with you?
It’s false my wife, daughter of Kough
I’ve travelled to people’s doors, and
poverty has luxuriated, covering the mounds.
Daughter of Agodi, mother, me I’m a dead man
If you don’t see me, death has shown me
my grave. Wanyegh clan has killed
an elephant.
Let people eat elephants if they are eating.
For me I will go and look for small fish
among the reeds. An orphan eats
even Bushi.
Eii, the clan is marching on steady,
I too, I’m stealing on by the alley.
Heroic Poetry
TIV
OOO Agebage vaa kar
Onov mba Tsegba ande due sha tembe
Aakpya hembe ayem
Begha ande sha hyande ve
Inyaregh ki bov ki kum er ka wula yo
Aa a a a
On begha ande nyor nomsu or
due sha tembe
aa kpya hembe ayem
ENGLISH
OOO a cry has sounded
Sons of Tsegba have come on to the open
Akpya has vanished.
Lion has raced on to the grass
bad money rumbles like rain
ah
Lion men have come, real men have come
to the open
Akpya has bolted away.
Religio-Medicinal Poetry
TIV
Mngu sorun we kwagh ne
Nahan yo abeo
Yange won nomsu
wer, wan kwase
Ibyo ben, sho kondu
ENGLISH
I’m treating this ailment
So it finishes
Sun, the male child
Moon, the female child
Guilt, drift down, Good, arise.
Elegiac Poetry
TIV
Ka yemen yam neoo
Baba kendemoo
Ka yemen yam neoo
A wegh waseoo
ENGLISH
This is my exit
Father has left me
This is my exit
with a hand on my chin.
Love Poetry
TIV
Auna Wondo
Uir awa wondo akpa ateratar
sha chi ukari mbaior a hideo
Anengen aminoo
Mva me mo sugh
John Papa vihi amo shie wese
Alu me ma zeva yo
Me unde dela or me pase lecture
Or mom nana or kwagh zeo
Alu sha shember ga
kuma ior yor amo kaa nanoo
Adoo Nyiban Tsue wangomo
Ainge mba sughun mo ga
ENGLISH
He has styled his trousers
the black one has fixed his trousers
six pockets, for the marked one of
Mbaior to return and be seeing it.
I’ve come to greet John Papa
who has spoilt me for some time now.
If I drink alcohol, I’ll climb on
fair-complexioned man and deliver
a lecture. Nobody should comment
because it won’t be right.
People are fed up with me – what say you
beautiful Nyibam Tsue, my sister
Nowadays, they don’t greet me.
Didactic Poetry
TIV
Lam amo ga doo ga
Lam amo ga Ashitsugh Gambe
Dajo u Adeke, kwase wamaa
Mdoom yo udoo kpa shima ngi ga
Mdoom ma kposu, ieren ngi kposu
ENGLISH
You haven’t talked to me, it’s bad
You haven’t talked to me,
Ashitsugh Gambe Dajo of Adeke
My woman, as for beauty, you
are beautiful but you have no heart.
Beauty is different; behaviour is different.
REFERENCES
Ulli Beier (ed) Introduction to African Literature p. 12.
Bruce King (ed) Introduction to Nigerian Literature
p. 23.
Ulli Beier (ed) Op cit., p. 14.
Drought Menace
The plague
Has stripped everything.
The vermins scrambled,
Robbed and raped,
Roped everything away;
The desiccating desert
Is shifting daily,
Sipping the juice of African land;
Poor and persecuted
Rendered landless, fruitless
Homeless, helpless and lifeless.
Noticeable drought effects
Telling here and there,
Daily, the papers
Announce about the activities
Of the energy – sapping drought;
Day after day, year after year
The plague infiltrated,
Making natives beggars on their land;
Majority exploited, victimized.
Exiled and slaughtered;
Poor farmers without seeds
Thrust to rainy areas for refuge;
Animal mortality on the rise –
“Going . . . Gone . . .”
Littered bodies here and there.
Severe frustrations and deprivations
Majority excluded
Individuals and nations
In lack of self fulfilment
Drought victims demoralized and grieved
By grim life, run out, bored, fed up faces.
4.
Eyes rolling in sockets
With gab widening
As years rolled away
With misery and agony
Thoughts . . . and . . . thoughts
Discussions . . . and . . . discussions
In “forest parliaments”
Were disorganized by the scorching drought
Frying Africa mile by mile.
5.
Rise and fall of geniuses
Some climbing and crashing
For search of daily bread –
Husks, fragments,
Boiled-salted leaves
Are delicious meals
Anything can fill
The empty stomach,
But hardly a day passes
Without the mention
To this great “lack” –
Stripped of everything
It’s major cause to aggressive behaviour
Anchored in great sacrifices –
Morally and physically.
6.
What are the whys and wherefores
Of this drought menace?:
Sending thousands on the flight,
Lovers, relatives, parents and children
Scattered and divided in dismay,
Pace of progress and civilization delayed
Social amenities denied: diseases caused;
Human status reduced to nothing
Costly animals sold for few kobo;
Oh! Life does not promise
All of us milk and sugar
For life is ironical, an embodiment
Of sorrow and happiness –
Today it is drought
Tomorrow it is flood,
It was a prayer for lack of rain
Now it is flood sweeping bridges
Ours is a drought-hit area
Others are flood-hit ones
This mourning-laughing world
Belongs to “haves” and “have nots”.
7.
Majority voiced open concern
Relentlessly and vigorously opposed to
Continuous drought subversion
But day after day
The plague infiltrated, roasting plants,
Arresting and chaining many.
8.
The rainy clouds are pregnant –
When entire nations mobilized
Assistance poured. Drought resisting
Trees planted by all means
The plague of drought checked
The rain came in abundance
The parching drought halted fast
The birds of the air sang once more
The fish and the fruits flourished.
9.
It is different now
We and our animals surviving
The dry lakes are full of fishes
Our prayers have been answered
No more wolves in sheep skins
Re-entering our ranches, in kinds or cash
Armed with baits and sinisters’ strings
A clique of fishermen, as usual, attempting
“Scrambling”, hooking fishes
This time, too late
“Stumbling” and falling headlong.
10.
Reeds on paths may not
Be completely moved now
For lack of rains
But when floods and currents flow in,
Even concrete bridges and obstacles
Are swept away;
When aids rained in,
Drought resisting trees planted
Drought-hit areas will emerge
From enslavement and subsistence economy
Into self reliance and freedom
Where there is peace and plenty.
11.
One day will be one day
Shifting slowly, like the drought itself
A new era is forcefully ushering in
The only solution to drought menace –
This most violent enemy
Of African enslavement
Is that “Unseen Strong Hand from Some Place”.
PETER B. CUKTU
Life is Death
What a grace and beauty
So sweet but deceptive
Lucifer’s crafts and Lotus-eater
Bends people to sweetness
Offering all delicious
Earthly folks feast on
Their souls looted soon
Captivating, laxing Lotus
Luring subjects and rulers.
There is hardly any epidemic
Contagious choleric, leprous
Catching the poor and the rich
Luring life passes all.
She is present everywhere
What a selling hot cake
Supplying generously and willingly
Purchasing cheaply on credit
Repaying hurriedly by death
Claiming all her very debts
Customers sitting in dejection
Chins tightly held in palms
Eyes casting down in agony
Lips compressing hard for pain
Muttering, shrieking, groaning utter
When peppering death arrives.
What’s a heathen goddess
Without truth and compassion
Mother-devoting-instincts
Of lower-higher – animals
Common mother of all sins.
The living love life
The living love life
Her love “deathening” trap
Her bullets shooting fast
Her lovers falling victims
Her messenger killing death
As poisonous arrows in victims
The weapon turning blood cold.
All shining is no gold
A bottomless pit is she
A famous hollow sham –
Externally angel, Heaven
Internally grave, Hell.
Of greatest trap in nature
The worst bait is life
Enveloping many in Kingdom
Medicine working in all
Life meaning different things
Yet meaning something
Toward every person
All enjoying something
Fish catching everyday
Hook, sinker, lining.
Life’s present everywhere
Life tastes sweetly
But life acts deadly
The cancer ruins nations
The nuclear kills races
Bacterial strains everywhere
Life is killing everyday
Scientists know no antidote.
PETER BAKYIT CUKTU
Source: ARCHIVING (Nigeria Magazine, Friday, Jan. 1, 1982)