Lyrics On The Lips Of Death
Nature could not have created you all
For nurture and vulture
Perhaps so, perhaps not
Puzzles of age long past
Solomon there was
Possessor of all possessions possessable:
Gold, silver, copper and copious concubines
Marbled mansions of monumental measures
Soon,
Solomon got served to maggots
Same celebrated Solomon skewed in earth sewers
Silky Solomon worshipped by the then world’s
Most feared warlords
Became just an item in my empire of skeletons
There was Field Marshal Hannibal
Great son of Amilcar Bacarr
Easily the greatest military tactician known to man
The icon of Carthage, Rome’s most dreaded foe
At the height of his expeditions
He had the whole of Europe under his thighs
Such was his fame and power
Chose elephants as weapons of war,
One day I summoned him
Grabbed his torso
And fed his huge frame to select maggots
As I did with Solomon’s before his
All the fame, all the fanfare
Came to naught at my imperial gate.
Countless others: men and women
Young and old
Regardless of pedigree
Or wretchedness of birth
Are meats at my blood soaked doorstep.
They called him Lincon!
A man of superfluous accomplishments
Deified by his people for recreating them
In furtherance of their destiny
Full of brains and meticulous planning
An unusual mortal this Abraham was
When I needed him for breakfast
I ordered him to brush his mouth and shave his chin
It was in that state I took his breath away
And invited another meat in the pipeline
To confirm to the world that his body
Was in my kitty.
Now the mansion called the White House has no meaning to him
Or him to it
Ownership does not extend beyond my date
I, the Terminator of all terminators
Determine man’s leasehold
On the earth’s surface
When he is to be swallowed,
Swallowed
In the belly of the earth.
If you are in doubt
Ask the leading lights at Ibadan University
The likes of Osuntokun and Solanke
Oritshejolomi Thomas and Dike
Ask business mogul Abiola
Or the soldier politician Yar’Adua
Or run to Kano and find the luggage
In the cargo from Abuja
All their proud possessions
Now reside with other tenants
While their nurtured bodies
Have beautiful skeletons made.
As you hear my song, you may vilify me
Rain curses as usual
And give reins to your swelled frustrations;
Since you can not kill me
Or even a hair pluck off my skin
You can only moan and bemoan
Your endless losses.
But tarry a little
Look in your mind’s eye
Imagine in what state your father or
Mother, brother, sister, son, daughter, friend or lover
Long taken away by me
Now is
Imagine where your skeleton,
If you are lucky to have one
After I have devoured you,
Would be in years to come
Now, think less of self
Visit the grave yard
And pay me the honour
Assigned to me by
Your Creator.
•Chief Adeniyi, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada 6 July, 2006
