Two Poems by Adesiyan Jesufemi

Akudaya

Akudaya'

Lying lifeless on the ground

People gathered round in sorrowful mood

Children playing, men digging, women wailing

Deep into the earth he was laid

Gone are his years on earth.

And poof he stands,

Upon the soil of another town

Having left his wife and relatives to bear the grief

Thought to have transient life's border

Only to be found a victim of reincarnation.

Ah! 'Akudaya'

The one who caused panic instead of 'Idaraya'

The one who scared the children from 'Ere Osupa'

'Akudaya' the one who caused confusion in the family

The frail that turns the agile into powerless

The imbecile that fools a sage.

Ah! 'Akudaya'

The vacuum you left in the family caused much ache

The sight of your grave causes a great magnitude quake

Why don't you leave this world?

Don't you want eternal rest?

Won't you like to meet your forefathers?

'Akudaya'

Live in 'Igeti' no more

Let your memories of living fade away

Let's hear no more of you

Your forefathers are calling you

'Akudaya'

I know; but I have not experienced the agonies of death

Loneliness can be saddening if deserted,

If death collects ransom, he would have named his price,

'Akudaya', if I can afford a headrest for you,

I will buy you one

Just forget this world and sleep on.

---

The Oil Lamp

A lonely oil lamp out there,

Dancing nakedly to the tunes 

Of the wicked storm.

A reed bent by the whirlwind,

Paying unwarranted obeisance to it,

Thus look I around me,

Lost in my little, feeble mind,

Of how agile was I before.

Before the blood clots on the cut,

And before the labyrinth of vitality,

I struggled to not let the lamp out,

What more can be done to prevent morbidity?

Its quietus brings gloom,

Darkness engulfs me about,

The lonely oil lamp is out,

For now shall I miss its little light;

Brightness ebbs out in my way.

Now rely I on the forest for guidance,

To which way turn- I know not,

Just straight ahead I move.

Without light, I stumbled, trampled on

Stumps and roots, thorn in my flesh,

I wish the oil lamp was not out,

But here stand I lonely with a lightless lamp,

Just my lonely oil lamp.

‘The love you give'

Sometimes, the land becomes weakened,

Not that it cannot bear the load anymore,

Thus sliding to the pressure within,

Yet we saw no bad in it

We shaved the forest till it gets bald,

Leaving bearable lands to Sun's smile,

No home for the wildlife but our belly

Is it only our world?

Sometimes, the sea says no

No to our feigned ignorance 

Exploding in her anger; a revolt 

To years of abuse and exploitation 

The wind won't hear again 

When it starts to dance,

Spiraling like a haywire ball-bearing 

Telling us that the show won't go on

I can't breathe without a mask,

Was I hiding from the air?

Or was I afraid of it?

Neither is a question nor problem