You don’t know me!
M. O. ENÉ
New Jersey, USA
EKE: Sunday, January 23, 2005
"Great literature rides on the back of historical landmarks"
- Obiwu
1.
You don’t know me: You will never know me;
If you know me, you would not need me.
I am a mystery that once unified;
To date, I cannot be demystified.
For times unknown, I have been around.
If you put your good ear to the ground
You’ll hear the charming chants of ants
And the drumbeats that drill the chants
From the lowly bass to the startling grace
A thrill no mere mortal dares to disgrace.
Of me, you most recently claimed knowledge
Powered by media-driven charlatan’s courage
But you don’t know me; you will never know me.
2.
I am a being force, therefore I am.
Alusi a na-atu egwu.
I am not a god or goddess, deity or divinity:
Ife a di ka Chi!
I am a nurtured force of nature.
Ike di n’Ani!
I am what I am to earthlings of faith.
Nke onye na-erele ya!
Aka-mere… man-made? Please yourself!
When you touch me anyhow
You feel my being somehow.
So, debate me not: A naghi alusi m uka!
You negotiate: I am a being force; I am.
3.
You negotiate and keep your words;
I’m true to my deals in all worlds.
I’m not one you with morsels ingratiate.
A naghi efe m efe: Gọọ m! You negotiate.
I am Okeosisi, the biggest tree in the land;
Ugo N'abo, the eagle that sits on no hand.
Being Idée, the flood, I find the flow level
Hill or valley—be the ground flat or bevel.
You don’t know me, yet you disparage me.
You give a devoted dog a bad name to kill it
As if I belong in the bottom of a blighted pit.
I don’t; the lad of a lion does not chew grass.
To eat grass would be classless and crass.
4.
I didn’t ask to witness nor testify on 4-19.
July 10, barely one month and 13 days gone
Ige Olaokpa declared departure foregone!
The Christian dedicated to me still thrives;
In the borderland of Chrises where he lives
He bestrides the fence of two weird worlds.
Although he did not keep his sworn words—
He is a blundering mere mortal in the main—
His flawed foundations solid still remain.
Orders from above and below may intervene,
Maverick monetized judges may all convene
And the Rock may pull all the dubious ropes…
It will steer to nowhere the desperate dopes.
5.
Security of state has suddenly vanished;
The security of the people is diminished.
The dedicated-to-me Christian remains
While the mavericks lose their domains;
Judge Stanley disappeared before sunset
From the petty plot Judge Wilson had set.
Another year and the mobs imploded;
Muscles, fireworks, and evil exploded.
From November 10, in Ado and beyond
Not an Olaokpalandian was around.
But the plot to remove was useless;
The three-day anarchy, senseless
Because they don’t know me.
6.
2005 just 10, it’s already sunset in Ogbeland!
Innocent, maybe; but he was chief of the tribe.
The dedicated-to-me now suffer tribe’s scribe
Partying politically, deceiving, and pushing it.
But he washes his hands with waves, not spit:
Ebunemmiri anaghi eri nshiko!
He won’t capitulate to the caprice of cowards:
A naghi eyi dike egwu!
He won’t resign to the blitz of tsunami wards:
Enyimmiri anaghi eri enyi!
Volcanoes and earthly eruptions steer away;
Hurricanes and tornadoes do not hold sway
For I have made him a rock in the face of flurries.
7.
I spare no one, not even Olaokpa Balogun
Who sullied my stardom with his state goon.
He who toys with the tail of a tiger’s teen --
Dead or alive -- fools with furious fire in a tin.
The flimflam fireflies shall surely get their turn;
The “small clique of renegades” scares me not
Though its “connections in high places” are hot.
Honor among thieves is double the honor of one thief
So in rich Chrisland, there’s no judging thief nor chief.
They call my style barbaric, justice of the wood;
Let’s have a name for the anarchy in Nollywood!
I don’t call names: What is in a name?
A whole lot, but no name makes me lame:
8.
A kwaa, a kwuru; gaa-gaa n’ogwu!
Anu kporo nko na-eju onu!
A na-ebu ana ebu? Waa!
Akidi ama(ghi) oke ana!
Akpaka gbagburu enyi!
Akpa na-anyika mkpo!
Akakpo zogburu mbe!
Alusi na-eje uka!
A kata, isi ebue!
Akwa udene!
Ajo anu!
Abu m Okaibe: Primus inter pares!
9.
I am a superior power over all otumokpo pots
That’s why the dedicated Chris survives all plots:
Abduction, burning and looting, detonation of bombs
Ambush of congressional committee convoy.… Bums!
Call them insane; I agree, and all that came to lows.
The Big Baba quietly quivers as the clouds come close.
The Ota Rocker has shown his hand; I see no ace
But the rules of the gloomy game change in retreat;
In your world, treasonable felony is a family treat.
The choice child of the chambermaid does no wrong
Because babacracy is democracy of the lower rung.
If only you know half the story of my being here,
Why strange signs precede the murmurs you hear…
10.
Why wind cannot be ensnared: Ikuku ama n’onya!
Why floods do not destroy me: Idée ju ogwugwu!
Why I am the real E sere enu ego, obi ya a di ebe o di!
Why Ezeego, Iteego, Uduego, and the likes are vanity!
Why folks climb my mountain with trepidation…
Ugwu a na-ari atu egwu!
Why I strike while the guilty sails the high seas…
Ogbu onye mgbe ndu na-aso ya uso!
Okay, you think I am evil? You really do?
The sons of Bekee have scrambled your senses;
You ought to know better: I am Ogwugwu!
Ah ha, Mmandu, you think you now know me?
No, beauty of creation; no, you don’t know me!
ã MOE, January 2005