LAMENTATIONS

(A collection of poems)
By
KENNETH OODEE

© Kenneth Oodee (2023)

Table of Contents

1. Lamentation Of A Sad Black Woman ................................ 4

2. Autocraticy In Chaos ............................................................ 6
3. Lost Glory ............................................................................... 8
4. The Cooing Dove................................................................... 9
5. Dead Man's Tale .................................................................. 10
6. Food Of Despair .................................................................. 11
7. The Devil's Autograph........................................................ 12
8. Love Is Ecstasy, Love Is Poison ......................................... 13
9. Suicide................................................................................... 14
10. Adieu O Soldiers ................................................................. 16
11. Farewell My Beloved Vagabond ....................................... 17
12. Song Of Agony .................................................................... 18
LAMENTATION OF A SAD BLACK WOMAN

My ancestors!
We've destroyed our homes
Tamed our culture
Sold our wealth
Gambled our health
Exchanged our conscience
We're like bad lawyers
Bathing dust
Our crude caked
Pain growing on our farms

Grasses have grown in my pots

Chaffs for breakfast
Mucor for dinner
At noon I fast
I have a husband
Yet I'm a widow
For I dress in black everyday
With my hair shaved
No shelter to cover my nakedness
Nor roof to cloth my breast

My melanin has gone dim

The sun has forgotten my day
The moon absents my night of plight
I no longer wonder what the twinkle little stars are
The waxless candle have become my chief mourner
The cloud sending her condolences as rain
"Oh, my beloved home!
I weep so our children could laugh
I murmur so our children could sing
I was living,
Now I’m merely existing"
For this is the song of a sad black woman
Living at home yet far from home.
AUTOCRATICY IN CHAOS

It was on a Saturday,
Sleeping almost all day
Stretching with all laziness
As I yawned out my tiredness
Sun stood still as the cloud run
The trees dances heavily as the birds hum
The dust and the atmosphere were in a romance
Even though the wind had bad manners
Children were playing
In church, priests were praying

Farmers were returning from their farms

Shepherds were gathering their rams
Traders were coming from the market
With foods stuff packed in their buckets
By 6pm, the Catholic bell echoes
In vans, comes the strangers into Rivers
From all boundaries and nearby rivers
Singing and smoking their tobaccos
Dressed in Khaki and boots
Holding weapons and eating fruits

They jumped down, started beating our men

Tied them in chains and raped our women
The whole state was in chaos
Some of us ran and led of cause
Some ran from Gokana to Andoni
Some ran from Opobo to Ndoni
From Ikwerre to Asari-toru
From Kalabari to akuku-toru
The city of Port Harcourt was looded
As everyone was being hunted
In the drainage, some were crawling
Infants left in the rain crying
Priests no longer have the time to pray
Drunks became conscious of the day
Houses were burnt
From illiteracy, our schools learnt
Crops dying of hunger
Bush meats looked up to hunters for life
Men grew tired of being strong
Women no longer have time to gossip

How long shall this pain last???

How long shall we linger in this predicament?
Where art thou O ye redemption???
For we've become slaves
Even in our mother’s land.
LOST GLORY

I hear the rustling of leaves

By the desperate harmattan breeze
The echoes of prolonged worries,
Rushing in and out of our ears in a hurry
Talks from silent lips
Speaking the language of the konga with their hips
Dancing round the market in bitterness
For they are victims of defeat
Still the kola tastes sweet
As the men chew and snuff in tears

Hundred drums yet no melody

Drummers beat with anger
The innocent earth was found guilty
Rivers lows, forgetting it waves
Sun began to fade, for it has overstayed
The men stood naked yet clothed in blood
Daughters hug brothers
Mothers kiss husbands
The moon spotlights their misery
As they staggered home

Those that could sing, continued

Those that could not, hums their way home
For in search of peace, they found agony
War has stripped them
For the ground is never satis ied
THE COOING DOVE

Weeping but no rushing tears

Shivering but no cold fears
In Kano, we sleep awake
Where walking is faster than running
The land is always in motion
The people of Lere
And the people of Kauru
Meets at their boundary
To decide which way to go
Indigenous disposition

They doubt their roots

The sand of time is dropping
We're waiting to run
The sound of time is echoing
We listen with our headphones on
In two the herdsmen comes
On their horses, with arrows and knives
The cooing dove never stop singing
In lullaby, she weeps her dirge
In relay, we save our young ones.
DEAD MAN'S TALE

Light fades in time

The clock is no longer mine
The lonely sky sleeps
As the unseen cloud creeps
Birds left the atmosphere

In their nest, singing in lairs

Through the trees, the breeze echoes
In search for food, chances elude the geckos
The waves carry’s the night
The river weeps in her plight

The dead man sings

Attention of night creatures it brings
The three sixty owls perched the tomb
Tomb clothed in cobwebs and skeletons
The epitaph on his tomb is

"A thousand memories yet no tale

For life has done it worse
A cruel existence with no remorse
Nothing to live for
Nothing too to die for".
FOOD OF DESPAIR

I've eaten pain

I've eaten grief

I've eaten misfortune

I've eaten disappointment

I've eaten sorrow

I've eaten shame

I've eaten sadness

I've eaten depression

I've eaten betrayal

I've eaten poverty

I've eaten heartbreak

I've eaten fear

Yet so much hunger in my stomach

Cause I'm never satis ied.
THE DEVIL'S AUTOGRAPH

With a hiss of rhyme, the cobra speaks

In a sole of time, the heart breaks
The door of the mind is closed
As visiting hours becomes late
Ways are out of the road
While weeds creeps on coal tile
The time hates the clock
Each moment is judged by a tick-tock
The oxymoron of life is paradoxical
The values of truth, is ironical

The Lucifer's signature

A fame less limelight
Hidden by spotlight
On the world stage of play,
Roles tend to be forgotten
Hardship lies in generosity
In giving, hands are lost
Crowded in isolation
In solitude, regret is born
And the infant sleeps in coma

The serpent catwalks the runway

In melody, Rhythms fade away
Sounds buried in drums
The peacock lives in vintage
The windows of life,
looking for sunlight in daylight
The rhyming stars, writes a free verse
In stanzas, lines are lost
In the epic story of life,
Death wrote an epilogue.
LOVE IS ECSTASY, LOVE IS POISON

Memories we Shared beneath the tree

Memories we shared beneath the duvet
Memories we shared beneath the stars
Memories we shared beneath our roofs

Memories we shared on the beach

Memories we shared 'long the road
Memories we shared in the river
Memories we shared lips-locking

Memories we shared pillow ighting

Are all gone in an eye twinkling
We're left with aching hearts
We're left with memories not to remember

We're left with people we love that we don't want to see

Love is ecstasy, and love is poison.
SUICIDE

The world will offend you

Friends will betray you
Love will break you
Hate will Isolate you
Family will reject you
School will fail you
Depression will silent you
People will judge you
Government will neglect you
Opportunity will pass you
Don't hang yourself,
Cause I'll rather listen to your story
Than attend your funeral

You will become a victim

You will hit the prison
You will be traumatized
You will be hospitalized
you will do good and get bad in return
You will trust and be damaged
You will be hurt and be wounded
You will sobber without comfort
You will struggle without assist
You will give up without encouragement
Don't poison yourself,
Cause I'll rather listen to your story
Than attend your funeral
The rivers will make you thirsty
The sun will bring you darkness
The breeze will give you heat
The moon will no longer be your spotlight
The earth will starve you
The sky will judge you
Time will forget you
Hope will leave you
Life will punish you
Even death will call you
Don't shoot yourself,
Cause I'll rather listen to your story
Than attend your funeral.
ADIEU O SOLDIERS

They marched towards the battle ground

No smiles, neither did they wear frown
The beats from their boot’s echoes
No music to keep them entertained

Only future memories they clinged to

The time they have, has already been lost
The moment they live in, is fast spent
Tomorrow is already in the past

They looked above for hope

But hovering above them were helicopters
The solid earth became a sinking sand
The forest around them were humans

For they've already been ambushed

And their bullets did not make it out of their rif le on time.
FAREWELL MY BELOVED VAGABOND

Watching this lonely sun rise

While my arrogant tears drop
The whistling pine whistle always its sadness
At a distance not far from near

The strolling wind walks round town

Triggering leaves to fall from trees
Moonlight hurries, cause she's running late
To pay her condolence to a gone friend

Around the ire we sit

Mourning and weeping in turns
Sharing memories of good and bad
Knowing fully well it won’t give life to death

But the drinks made us to forget

For in in expectations, we sleep awake
In jokes and laughter, we bid a farewell
Goodbye my beloved vagabond
SONG OF AGONY

The gun has gotten tired of killing

Knife is tired of bleeding
Travelling arrow no longer pierces
Grenade has gotten less ierce
Earth has eaten enough
Sky has wept enough
The cold breeze shivers
Blood drowning the rivers
Songs of weeping widows
Mourning their unsung heroes

Songs of those who fought

So, we could live in peace
Songs of those who were destroyed
So, we could build in unity
Songs of those who were defeated
So, we could triumph
We've been crippled by war
In lamentation, we know not where to go
We've lost our voices
We know not what dirge to sing

She took our fathers

She took our daughters
She took our brothers
She took children
Everything is gone
We're left with panting hearts
What tomorrow holds,
In hope, we can no longer guess
Our glasses of happiness remains empty
Miseries and hunger, we’re forever fed

We're in search of death

Cause life feels enough
No pain we've not felt
Life itself is a curse
Oh mothers!
No infant to warm your breast
No chickens to feed you eggs
So many crops, no one to harvest
Who will dig their ditch?
Who will bury our loved ones?