Poem: Saint Madiba’s Fall

Rohlihlahla! Rohlihlahla!!
Rohlihlahla!!!
Ululation of elation by the royal
Blood of Thembu
The sun has come at dawn
In the tiny village of Mvezo
Wherein River Mbashe boughs
Sage dwellers of Mvezo
Foretell it as a herald of redemption
With chorus voices of “siya namkela nonke”
“Impilo!”

The sun rises with redeem pledge
Making it to the zenith
Glistening with evermore solemnity
With unrivalled reverence
Beyond every
Wet and dry lands of habitation
A crest of wave attained

The sun ascends the throne of earth
Revivifying chivalry
Scaring away chauvinism
Gospelling gender parity
Re-marrying the separatists
Uniting the cat and the mouse
Calling at
Unique unity
Peerless peace and
Social solidarity

The sun ascends the throne of the earth
Re-hoping the hopeless
Illuminating the darken souls
Putting smiles on contorted faces
Praying for lives in purgatory
Transmogrifying the transgressors
Recuperating the moribund souls
Reincarnating the dead

The sun ascends the throne of the earth
An emblem of dove
An epitome of love
A father of fortitude
A replica of solicitude
A paragon of moral exactitude
A template of finest creature

Trouble to sons and daughters of Mvezo land
Distraught summons Royal Thembu
The rising sun objects to settling
But has fallen
Merry to sons and daughters of heaven
The ray of sunshine has refracted
An icon of the apartheid has gone
An eye of the destitute has blinked
Voices chorus dirges of sorrow
Souls bewail in lasting sadness
Hearts stagger in restless pain
Minds wander in hollow despair
Bodies tremble in echoing fear
And lives carry away by tsunami of tears

Man's promisor has come for his due
“Yandei” with its icy cold fingers grip
On the throat
Enervating the flesh and
Bolting with the soul
Without a shred of remorse
Humanly untimely
Divinely timely

Yet in his perpetual absentia
He is still uniting people
And nations
As mundane bulldogs of dissents
Conglomerate
To pay last respect to him

The immortal moral juggernaut has gone too soon
The last man standing has tumbled into the tomb
The prophet of all religions has relinquished the apparition
The god of peace has gone home

Who is this Adam worthy of the deifying eulogy?
He is the image of God
The only man who ever lived
With a heart
The
Protestant
Prisoner
President
Peacemaker
Patriarch
Preacher
Padiba

Gone late early
But the virulence of his heroic spirits is
Transcending vast stretches
With no sign of abatement
Padiba
Uhambe kakuhle!

Abdulai Hanan R. Confidence
Tamale Teaching Hospital
Tamale