Songs of Anisha
“Saturnine Monody,”
by C. Uche Onuora
The cattle hide-keeper – he came, answering my call
To give me new nails for a while – in exchange – for
The old sullied nails darkened by venomous rile
New white nails to scratch out a living, for the child
Of my lineage – he came; the cattle whisperer came before
I rose; as the cock’s crow broke the furtive silence
Of alabaster whispers in darkness’ harness – the cadence
Of masked intents sprouting from harem of thorn bushes
On bush pathways hardened by cyclical treks of violence
Melodies hearken over and over to hearts grievance-hardened
And so flows the moist nourish – on and on, a varnish
To cloak roots and swaddle truths in flourish, hearts freeze
As the preying bird unsheathes its claws in midflight
At midnight; the prayers of heathens answered in respite
Sown seeds garnish a war tune, innocence is repealed
The pathfinder led a crooked life to stalk futures, rife
With labyrinth forays; drum bred a yearning for entrails
Its beat spoke over and over shielded by passion’s veil
Oh father of drums; here is kola – eat it!
Guardian of our tempest; now our drum – beat it!
Ancestral chalk on face – warlike, guardians of
Ancestral gates bathed in radiance, soaked in war fumes
Hooves of cavalry in brazen steps, a line-up stampedes
Up a winding incline to fiery peak of smothered visage
Signal plume heralds a brazen theft of souls and lineages
The cries of taut leather betray a mercurial sign
The war drum stokes thoroughfares of fiery souls
The cause of redemption withers on a rapacious vine
As consortiums of embers glide to heaven’s passageway
And desideratum is upturned – mortal dies a thousand deaths.
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