From Lampedusa with tears of joy

This literary piece is in solidarity with those who are mourning the tragic loss if their loved ones as a result of the boat that sank off the coast Lampedusa near Italy. The victims as reported were migrants mostly from Africa who were voyaging to Europe in search of better living conditions. This sad event is another blemish to the history of the human race which took place on the 3rd of October, 2013. May their gallant souls take respite in eternal bliss.
I
The turbulent tossing topsy-turvy
Of the soulless sea,
Battered and shattered the mammoth
Calabash that ferried these fine souls
To the land of copious cowries.
The steps of decisions that swept your
Feet to douse the fiery pangs of paucity,
Defied death’s deadly debacle.
You silent brave warriors, welcome home,
Welcome to the fabulous tunes
Effusing from the flutes of
The infinite ancestral flutists.
Welcome home you brave remnants
That reduced death to its dismal degree.
Rejoice, you valiant worthy sons,
For you reminded death of your
Toughness that typified the hides of the
King’s war drums. The living salutes
Your flames of resilience
That ebbeb not with the tides.
Your presence arouses hope.
II
Worthy ones, to your kinsmen these
Words you bequeathed:
‘We took the rough route to turn
Our backs to the insanities of our
Venal elders. They stored the best
For themselves and snatched the rest
From us. How were we to survive?
Like vassals, we laboured in our palaces.
Why merried they in our misery?
Why are their hearts reeking of evil?
Where was the pledge of equity in progress?
The elders must right their wrong affairs.
Reprioritising their priorities they must,
As manage they nobly divinity’s boons.
It was never our wish to slave in foreign
Lands, and never was it our desire
Root our roots in strange lands.
Our flight was an instinct to
Wet our long drought tongues.
Never, never should our innocent bloods
Be sacrificed in such turbulent sacrilege.
May the elders manage well or
Risk sacrificing posterity in such
Perilous manner.’
SOURCE: OKOFO-DARTEY SAMUEL
E-MAIL: sodesq2000@yahoo.com