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Born Again
Chidozie Chukwubuike
Imo State, Nigeria
dozieobowu@yahoo.com
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
When Agwu gets hold of a man
It does a lot of havoc
A snake cannot beget a lizard
This can only be your hand, Agwu
I nurtured Agezi my daughter
I did my duty as a father
Yet, Agezi talks to herself
She sings to herself
And dances when there’s no drumming
Always talking about a new home in the sun
My own Agezi…
‘a biriver and I unbiriver?’
Little wonder the sackcloth she now wears
O! God of my ancestors… no, god of the begotten worship
You’re not impotent?
Deliver your worshipper from Agwu
That I may close my eyes to sleep
And be saved from this chatter of incoherencies
Or, do you not know Agwu is a deity?
It bestows a man with abundant wealth
And strikes another with madness
Why would you permit it to possess my child?
And you claim superiority!
My own daughter, Agezi
With a piece of cloth
Covers her head and ear
Closed her ear to the world?
“Bress you,” she greets
The young as well as the old
All these calamities,
Because of one sacrifice I forgot to offer
O my ancestors I pray you
To forgive this my act of negligence
I know when God the creator wants to kill a man
He begins with his favourite goat.
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Written by
Chidozie Chukwubuike, a teacher in Owerri, South-Eastern Nigeria.
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