Martin Ayanbare Ayankola - I SHALL RETURN

Cold holds me in a strong grip
As I sing this song in a strange land,
I don’t wake up to hear the cock crow
Nor do I hear the bleating of sheep
And the sombre sound of the bull being led to slaughter at the market place


I can’t see the Egungun dancing
Nor do I hear the sweet sound of the dundun,
I don’t see a bistro to eat amala and assorted meat,
All I hear is “are you alright? ”.

Here dusk comes at 8 pm,
I can’t see children playing under the moonlight
I can’t feel the love that I grew up with
All I see is individualism

Last night I dreamt about my ancestors,
The living dead from Tede and Otu
Who urged me to return and feel the smell of my ancestral Vegetation
And commune with the living and the living dead


To you the living dead I owe this
No matter how sweet this journey is
I shall come back home

Return home I must
To share in the joy of the first harvest
To gyrate to the sweet sound of the bata
And to partake in bringing forth another dawn
By driving away the children of the dark.

NOTE: Egungun is a Yoruba word meaning masquaerade. Amala is a Yoruba food prepared with yam flour. Bata and dundun are Yoruba drums. Yoruba is a language spoken in South West Nigeria.

Martin Ayanbare Ayankola

http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/i-shall-return-3/