By Noel Ihebuzor
I, Time will take bitterness
and make it history
in my time
a gentle wand
will erase the scars
left by the barbed lips,
in my time
my breath soft smoothens
that hard tongue,
formerly sour and metal acerbic
and fills it
with sweetness
all in my time,
***Susan Daniel”s wonderful poem this link prompted this response
By Noel Ihebuzor
Surveying his still and lean frame
I still and steel myself
trying to dam the hot streams seeking release
I lean back in time and spare tear drenched thoughts
to visit with his past before his still present
and survey a future without his comforting presence
The little boy besides me clutches my hands
all grief and bewilderment, suddenly thrust into adulthood yet a child,
struggling to be brave and I too struggle to be brave for him
holding his hands as we both struggle to suffocate the pain that seeks to suffocate us
and my thoughts tumble, my words stumble,
my mind wobbles as do my legs on this walk of farewell
a slow walk of love, honor, respect and remembrance
molten waves of sorrow scorch me as I walk and gaze
As I gaze on him and remember, and recall and re-live….
Santos, Santos the gbogbo di gbogbo
Dimkpa asa, okunrin meta,
“One Naze man at a time”
Okunrin dara, nwoke obioma, ome nwanne….
O very very Santos Achuku
Not you to enjoy the spare rib
when ribs stare at one from withering rib cages
not for you the lean prime cut
when the world bulges in the middle with the
withered frames of lean children,
soon to be cut off in the prime of childhood
lean as thin drying and dying sticks
stick children with sagging skins
which cling like dirty sack cloths to the tiring bones
Oh, Santos , how often did we rage at a deaf drunken and indifferent world
and for you, Santos, action was also soothing
and so, willingly at Lekki, Tere-Ama, okorieukwu and beyond,
he lent his throat to voice their pain
with no thought of gain
save to soften their pain and to soften his too
and soothe the pains of separation he bore
gladly he lent his time, his mind, his voice, his frame
that theirs may grow
that smiles would grace their faces
I sing for you Santos
You who now sing no more
For you Santos who loved life
but for whom songs for others was
vital for the vibrancy of your own songs
and for the voices you missed so
I sing for you Santos
I sing my sorrow and your grief
I sing for those voices,
voices whose touches you missed and still miss
those voices who are unable to sing,
suppressed, silent, sad,
subdued and sullen
I sing for the hard of heart, haters and hatters
hard nuts, twisted and knotted
I sing Santos knowing that that your charity beams on them,
your arms of embrace still open to welcome though you be still
Chi anyi di nma, Uchechi ga eme, Chi anyi ji oke and though some may think it is dark, bright days await you….
Gingerly tenderly, I caress your presents
this endless present,
a past that lives, heaves and breathes
and a future that glows and beckons
The three time frames, yet a continuity, endless
O very Santos, you came, you lived, you loved and you live on
the road you walk is smooth, your path is good, Uzoma
no stomps graze your feet as winged creatures lift you
lead and accompany you to the warm welcome of His bosom and light.
**** This is one of my clumsiest songs. I wrote it in 2009 for my late elder brother and friend, Valentine Uzoma Ihebuzor – ( I called him Santos and still do! ) after we had committed his mortal remains to mother earth in my father’s compound in the village! Santos sleeps right next to his bedroom window and the sands of my village lie gently on him! Today is three years since that committal! Up Santos!
Do you know you touched me when you did not mean to
Did you know you saved me when you were not looking
And because you were not looking
you failed to feel my heart leap at that moment of rescue
missed to see my soul drip with honey, my body come alive
and soft warm flows gently fill me my being
Do you know how deeply you touch me with your warm voice,
and how with the slight touch of your hands you speak to my despair
how and so often with your soft touch you stop my hard fall?
Do you know how much you soothe my soul
with your warm voice and the reassuring beams of your smiles?
Can I sing what you do ……
When you hear my silent sobs even when you seem not to be listening,
When you feel my unspoken words and decode their deep syntax
When you read my silent lips from across the distances
When with a single glance you read my pain and
with a soft touch share my grief
How warm your kind gestures must boom to the deaf woman
When with your soothing and tender touch you speak your care
And stroke her famished spirit and stimulate the eardrums of her soul
And rescue her from the loneliness of silence
How colourful and full of bloom your touch must shine to the blind dancer
as she surveys your kind face in the flow of your hands,
when the love in your soul that your touch speaks
fills her mind’s eye with pictures of beauty and bliss
and rescues her from the agonies of the dark,
How warm and welcoming your keen eyes must sing to the deaf mute
When they follow and read his every voice and their modulations
and share in the labours of his limping speech
your compassion lends and restores dignity
warm as cover cloth in the harmattan night
feel his sweet thank you song
in the moisture that crowds his grateful eyes
in his subdued shy smile which celebrates your attention
How you deeply you touch me when you speak my words,
when you speak soft words
and when you lend me your voice and speak for me
and speak for those without voice,
when you listen with care, when you care to listen,
Do you know how deeply you touch me
when you speak words that only the eyes of the heart can see
the eyes of the heart sees deep and clear
the ears of the heart hear even the softest footfalls of footless spirits….
Soft words touch hard
Gentle kindness holds fast and bond
Unreflecting and unselfish gestures strike deep
Human warmth oozes solidly
And multiplies, even when we know not
and even when we are not looking
and even when we mean not
look over there and see a bridge of rainbows
listen and hear the strains of soothing music
and see the angels dance and sway
all because with a gesture, with a thought, with a word
without talking, without thinking
you touch me, you touch others
and you link and connect
and love flows…and grows…and soars
and multiplies …and liberates the soul, the body and the mind
and the echoes of your silent actions sing loud and smell sweet,
rising higher to the clouds
did you know you touch me when you did not mean to?
Noel Ihebuzor This is a song of gratitude for all those who rescue others from despair, depression, sorrow and gloom by generous acts of acts of love…..often without knowing it.
@naitwt
Reflections 