Manuscript begins here....
My Son Theophilus, seeing that
you have traveled, I have found it of utmost importance to put into writing a
certain tale which I have relayed only to you and my late wife, your mother. I
feel it is high time the world heard this tale for I see the end drawing nearer
than ever. I have written it in form of a poem for I know your deep love for
poetry. Be sure to publish this tale. Remember the words I spoke to you during
your last visit wherein I told you to take good care of your siblings and to
ensure that they continue in the path I taught you all to walk in. Remember
these precise words, "the dawn breaks forth and this mist called the
'present' fades into the glorious light of the future. Yet, forget not O
Theophilus that Sunset rapidly approaches. You have not long to stay".
Your beloved Father.
1
I sit still and solitary
On the expanse of a grassy
terrain
Beholding the golden sun as it
sets
Into the fiery form of a
reddened sphere
Only my wrinkled hands move
As they weakly scrawl painful
memories
Engraved on the scroll of my
mind:
My mind- it wanders off into
the past
As it unrolls, the silhouette
of a frail figure-
Which is me- trembles in the
fading light.
2
My mind travels back speedily
into the past
Sixty years ago when it was
yet day
I am back on the street, in
the night
Where the event which I shall
write of occurred
I can feel the piercing cold
of that grotesque night
As it beat against my youthful
hide
I can hear the mournful cry of
the wide-eyed Owl
Hooting as it flies across the
starry sky
My solid frame
sways-sauntering drunkenly
As I dance to the derisive
beats of ogogoro
I took too much of that cursed
drink
Alas! I had fallen into a
drunken stupor.
As I swayed along the silent
street
Little did I know that Nemesis waited not far from home
Nemesis was a man-my intimate
enemy at the drinking spot
Who had thought it best to
befriend my paramour-
The object of my daily
fantasies
I saw him as he walked
drunkenly ahead, oblivious of my presence
The soothing voice of ogogoro spoke in my hazy mind-
'Kill him! lest he steals her forever from thy hands'
Like fuel poured into a raging
fire
My soul sparked with the
raging anger of the mythical god of thunder
Hatred burned in me like the
fervent heat of a volcano
I would kill him lest he stole
the heart of my paramour away.
I moved stealthily towards him
As a hungry Lion would stalk
its prey
My heart burning with the lust
to kill
With my hands, his doom to
seal
Every vestige of fear was
covered
By the hazy mist of my drunken
mind
All that mattered was to clear
away from existence
This man who dared to befriend
my paramour
Nemesis had placed in his
hands
The instrument of his own
destruction-
A bottle of sparkling wine
Was all I needed to end his
miserable life.
3
My presence was unnoticed
For he was more drunk than I
I came upon him as swift as I
could
With my balled fist, I knocked
him into unconsciousness
I could have stopped here but
my drunken mind would not
Alas! I fulfilled my lust
Killing him with the broken
remnant of the bottle of wine
The sight! Oh, the sight that
met my eyes!
The sputtering blood from his
dry mouth
As his life slowly ebbed away
The haziness on my mind
cleared away at the dawning realization-
I had killed a man!
Fear instantly crept in
I swayed, not from drunkenness
but from fear
My hands trembled as they held
carelessly
The jagged piece of broken
bottle
I was alone in this cold, dark
night with a dead man
Who I had murdered in cold
blood
His ghost seemed to linger
ominously-
A shadowy phantom hanging in
the air
What would I do?
Run! Was the answer that
came since home was not far away
Just then, I heard the sound
of a police siren piercing through the lonely night.
4
The sound of that dreaded
siren
Blasting through the silent
night
Made me wait no longer to view
the dreadful sight
Nor wait to behold in mournful
fright-
The man whose eyes in death
were now tightly shut
My legs in response to the
piercing sound
Ran on their own accord
towards home
My heart beat widely
Wide-eyed, nostrils running
As my solid frame ran against
the biting wind
And I, who would not call God
did call him that night-
"God save me", I
hopelessly prayed.
I reached home panting heavily
like a dog on a hot day
Knocking hysterically on the
locked iron door
My back was turned to the cops
who were not too far from my home
The sound of rushing feet
behind the door made me hopeful
For the cops drew ominously
closer to the marbled terrace
Where I stood in trepidation
like a cow about to be slaughtered
The door opened and the quiet
eyes of my beloved brother met mine
Oh my brother! We were two
worlds apart!
He did warn me of this useless
life I had chosen
And pointed me to that which
our late parents had trodden
I had failed!
I had failed!
He did not wait to hear me
speak
But pulled me in quickly,
shutting the door again as he did so
His eyes looked horrified at
my blood-stained shirt
My beloved brother could
barely speak
All he did was exclaim, 'what!'
I dared not mince words for
this was a desperate moment
But spoke in concise words my
fateful escapade
We wept that fateful night as
we clung together
His words still echo from that
distant past
'I warned you, didn't I?'
Just then, we heard loud bangs
at the door
The cops definitely did not
see my face; rather, they saw me as I entered the house.
5
I shook terribly in fear as I
clung to my beloved brother
He wept sorrowfully as his
hands held me close
Pulling me away from himself,
he held my arms and spoke
'Let me wear your clothes'
The words struck me like a
thunderbolt
The words were laconic but
precise-
Brother intended to give
himself in my place!
I would not allow that, I
would pay for my wrongs
My innocent brother must not
pay for the sin of I, his sinister sibling
But looking intently at me
with tear-stained eyes, he spoke
The words which shall always
echo in time and eternity-
'You are not yet ready to go.
I give you my life, live it right'
Oh, the pain of this memory!
Engraved upon the scroll of my
heart
I would never forget the
sorrow on my beloved brother's face
As the judge sentenced him to
death
My heart bled and bleeds even
now
As I remember how he was
killed
Hanged gruesomely like the
murderer he never was
I saw pain on his eyes as his
life slowly seeped away
Oh the pain! the pain!
I tried to speak the truth
before he was hanged
But he gave me an intense look
that seemed to say again-
'You are not ready to go. I
give you my life. Live it right'
6
Here I am, an old man
Watching the sunset
I can't wait to tell him on
the other side
How I lived his life right
Of the youths whose lives I
changed
Through the Christian path he
chose to crave
Of the schools I built in his
name
The orphanages and hospitals
Wherein men's lives were saved
How I trained my wife and
Children
In the way that Jesus taught
Above all, I can't wait to
thank him for the life he freely gave...[Manuscript ends here]
[Editor's note: According to
Pa.Kolawole's house-maid, he died in the night shortly after writing the above
poem, two days after his eightieth birthday. He was found sitting on his
arm-chair at the lawn. His cold hands still held unto the pen and his eyes
fixed intently upon the sky. It is believed that he died from a heart attack.]
Mini Glossary
1. Ogogoro: Alcoholic drink made from fermented Rafia
palm tree juice
2. Nemesis: Mythical goddess
of vengeance
NOTICE TO THE READER: This is
strictly a fictional work. Resemblances to persons and events are indeliberate.
Events and persons are purely figments of the author's imagination and should
not be taken as factual or real life events.
© BETIKU, SAMUEL A. (2017)
Good mémoire, Christ Jesus help me Oh God....
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