By Victor Uzodinma Chukwuma
41. Spirit of Old
The souls of our glorious dead
Are strangled into bitter anguish
By our lives now,
Yet above their graves we mourn.
Black steely Iroko us,
Now decomposing woodwork.
Rotting, as spokes cling to our wheels,
And clog our sight.
The village pride
Is long stolen,
Thrown to the dogs,
While winds remove our unbending fences.
Come back guardian spirits,
Please speak up, don’t keep dumb
While the stools of Old
Are battered for upholstery.
When, will your footsteps be heard?
When, won’t they be swaying again?
Come, I await you.
Do come back, and never again leave.
42. The Beggar
As in the beginning,
There is void;
The world is without form.
As in the beginning,
There is loneliness;
The world is without warmth.
As in the beginning
The world is solitary;
No brethren but God.
At a post,
The cycle wait
For generous fingers of the street.
As it is in the beginning,
So it is,
And ever shall be.
Victor Chukwuma, Professor of Physics, renowned for his immense contribution to the development of Astronomy and Space Science in Nigeria, is a Fellow of the Astronomical Society of Nigeria and the Nigerian Institute of Physics.
