June 12 (Buhari laying the old ghost to rest)
i learnt:
man had been already dead// since threat was a weapon//
man had already known bondage//
since a chain was made//
man had already known peace since sleep//
man had already lived forever in the earth
before our eyes, after our memories//
today, this is how the sun rises in the west//
from the calls of a northern voice//
whether to be or not to be//
for a man who sits in the people's hearts for years//
a green beret unearthed the root of our hope
for a change in '93//
when to say yes also means to say no//
the difference is as clear as time//
a man began to die// ever since his victory
was vanquished// without a fight// without a right//
but what power can do// is what votes cannot tell//
time kills time// time succeeds time//
time wakes the dead// like an invisible sorcerer
in the lips of another man// seeking power
from our votes// this is where votes begin to tell
what power can do// man sits the dead on a throne//
long ascended by successions// to please the sons
of fathers of our pasts// this is how time meets time//
this is how '18 becomes what '93 aspires to be//
so that '18 could renew her own vision come '19//
this is how time works faster than our thoughts//
this is how poetry has captured life through death;
held pasts with the hands of futures//
but the present is still uncertain//
& now, the west rejoices at this sun//
flashing deceit unto our eyes// that never wants to see//
upon the rainbows of change we failed// to touch
after covering distances of our journey//
to meet this mirage...//
the dead has just woken this time around. in the west.