POETIC TRIBUTE IN POETIC MEMORY OF THE ACADEMIC POETPROFESSOR KOFI AWOONOR FOR THE ATTENTION OF ANCESTOR POETS OF OURS IN THE POETIC KINGDOM OF AFRICAN WISDOM

By Mawutodzi Kodzo Abissath 

PROF. KOFI AWOONOR

MY TRANSITION

Oh, mourn not

Over my sleeping corpse,

For my humble soul

Is free for a higher course.

As the pain of living

Is faithfully relieved

By the joy of dying,

My blissful transition

Is but a sublime reincarnation

Through a wonderful initiation.

Rejoice, rejoice, rejoice!

For dead though i seem,

So alive still I am

Oh, mourn not

Over my sleeping corpse,

For my humbly soul

Is free for a higher course

MKA

THE SOUL

From Divinity

To humanity,

Like a ghost from the sea

In million manifold shapes

On its journey to manifest,

Wanders in the atmosphere

Only to convert into clouds

That darkens the bright horizon.

Then, into the sea it returns

In an incarnated form of a rain

To bring life to dying creatures

Crying on the deserted plain!

Yes, that downpour you see,

Is the fruit of an invisible vapour

That ascends into the heavens

When the sun’s rays,

Like the Holy Ghost

Descend on the ocean waves-

A divine process indeed!

It manifests itself in a wondrous

Fashion from eternity to eternity!

MKA

YOU WILL OBLIGE

An ancient woman I know,

How old she is – I don’t know,

Neither beautiful nor ugly she is;

But when she knocks at your door,

You will definitely oblige.

Nobody’s friend ever she is

But million’s foe she always is

When she knocks at your door,

You will oblige!

Whether wise or fool

When she knocks at your door,

You will oblige.

From animality to humanity,

When she knocks at your door,

You will oblige!

Beloved ancient woman,

Your action is inevitable,

But hardly acceptable

To the human kind,

Can you have some mercy

On humanity?

MKA

THE MAN POET

The unmade poet

Is a born lunatic.

Like the Atlantic,

A flood of ideas

Undulate in his mind

And burst on his tongue

Like the waves of the shore

At the explosion of his thoughts

In the city avenues even!

Ordinary eyes

Judge him abnormal,

But wise ears heed his counsel.

Little brains

Grope with his words,

But evolved souls

Grasp his thoughts;

A scientific madman indeed!

He uses the philosophers’ lab

For his lunatic researches

He rushes to the mystics’ asylum

For his dramatic experiments

And only few taste

His poetic philosophy!

Worthy brethren, brethren!

Cross the Man Poet you may,

“What a lunatic being,” you‘ll say,

Right or wrong you may be –

Why not seek ye the key

That reveals the poetic will?

MKA

SELECTED POEMS

 DEDICATED TO

PROFESSOR KOFI AWOONOR,

A FEARLESS INTELLECTUAL WARRIOR

WHO OBTAINED HIS HIGHEST INITIATION

IN THE HANDS OF SOME WAYWARD SOULS

OF PEACEFUL ISLAM IN GLOBAL TERRORISM

ON HIS MISSION OF LITERARY ILLUMINATION  

ON 21 SEPT., 2013 IN NAIROBI, KENYA -

POSTERITY WILL BE HIS JUDGE!

Contact: abissath@gmail.com