By Kwame Okoampa-Ahoofe, Jr.

You have blighted
the land
with gloom
and doom,
Togbega Gabusu,
you have desecrated
the dead
and the womb
of the Earth…

You have palled
the land
with crime
and guilt,
you have torched
the ancestral path
of life,
Togbega Gabusu,
you have murdered
the dead
twice over,
stanched
the span
of your reign…

The peace of Hohoe
has been rent
and the gods
are suspended
amidst rancor
and mayhem,
Togbega Gabusu,
you ought to
hang your head
in shame;
for you have lost
your rank
among the wise
and gray,
you have stooped
below the depths
of indignity,
and so
you must wear
your footwear
on your head…

Lost soul,
if you cannot
heal and
console
the bereaved,
you have
no right
to pile upon
our sorrows
and pains,
Togbevi Gabusu,
kingship is no toy
for toddlers;
son of woman,
you cannot contest
your destiny,
for “your hands
are too short
to box
with God-Allah”…

in the beginning,
there was land
before
the arrival
of man,
Togbevi Gabusu,
no man owns
the land,
for the land
is the spout
of life,
the land belongs
to all,
the land is
us all…

Togbevi Gabusu,
You have tainted
the land
with gloom
and doom,
poked your forefinger
into the eyes
of God-Allah,
and so we must
sandwich
your lips
with the exile’s
leaf of red,
shave your head
naked like
the duffs
of a child,
shoo you
out of town
to purify
the Earth –

Togbevi Gabusu,
you have rained
storms and curses
upon the land,
Mawu is aggrieved,
and we are
doubly-bereaved;
you have rained
squalls of curses
upon the land,
you have brought
indelible shame
to your clan
and tribe…

Togbevi Gabusu,
God is aggrieved,
and we
your kinsmen
are anguished
beyond pain
and shame;
Togbevi Gabusu,
you have rained
hurricanes of curses
upon the land,
and we are
wounded
beyond
our wounds…

Togbe Sasabonsam,
Togbe Sasabonsam,
Togbe Sasabonsam…

6/13/12