New post by Akinbobola Adeyemo in his Iyawo Oba series today! Read, enjoy, share!
{Interlude}
Like rodents in grey
They sneak up on the unsuspecting
Watching
Praying
Preying
Predators.
Bringing wonder to the once clueless
Oh for sure they were once oblivious you see
And rage to one..
Who has known only calm like sunshine
Leading you to death
Bringers of rain
Harbingers of hope?
FALSE?
No no
Don’t tell me that
For they came when….
They hide under shadows
Moving as you move
Stop when you stop
Turn around in wonder with you too
They hang around your person
Not Imitations
They move unnoticed
Unperturbed by illumination
And emotion.
They can also mirror the elements
Oh my God,
Are you serious?
Baba said so too
He said: They rise with the sun and the moon
They are day
They are night
**
Baba continued:
‘But no
I lied
Did I say the child was done?
The child is never done asking
For something flows from the eternal fountain of youth
An elixir the child cannot control
The child will not control
There is nothing to do about it
To the curiosity of youth
Curiosity fueled by the evasiveness of elders
Why do they shield such wisdom?
See? Another reason to be young…
For the young
The child thought by virtue of her mother
That she was stupid
Young and stupid she called it
The child thought to herself:
Mother has two hands
So do I
Two eyeballs
So do I
Two legs
So do I
She has seen the years flash by
I have seen them too
So tell me why?
Why won’t she let me know of my father?
The child was plagued
The elders, fabled to have all the answers
They had refused her such wisdom.
But the young,
Always seeking for answers
And in never relenting
Never laying on back to catch breath
With fate beckoning
And destiny a stone throw away
Urging them on
Almost can they taste victory
But the sweetness eludes them
Everything seems sour
Like unripe fruits and spoiled vegetables.
Mother nature watches the children
Strutting aimlessly
Bragging about instant riches
Riches as fickle as the life they cling to
Loathing the weak
And despising the poor
They spit on the memory of hardwork
But once in a while
Like the coming of a newborn
Youth emerges
Complete with innocence
Breaks free
Well maybe not completely
Trapezes through treacherous caves
Unperturbed by whips
As applied to dampen imagination and resolve
So comes in the child laden with doubt
And quest for knowledge
The kind that knows no limits.
The child had had enough
So she decided to challenge ‘Fujabi the village masquerade’
She had never understood why her mother,
Every morning since childhood
Had taken breakfast to the masquerade.
The mere significance of this act struck the child
And she decided to challenge her mother’s authority
So the child went to the village square
And threw a stone at Fujabi’
Baba sighed:
“OmoBolanle
Omo Omojolape
Oko Ojo
*The drumming stopped abruptly*
You have been chosen
*The drumming resumed*
Omobolanle smiled and danced forward
The queen had promised her after all
Olori Folake let out a smirk
The prince noticed this
And smelled trouble.