I Heard These Words Before by Ade

i heard these words before
and I sang these songs before
rhythms handed down from
generations before us
lessons given under the sweet
blanket of crystal moonlight
words about the land that once was
filled with milk and honey
surrounded by fish-infested seas
and rivers of endless songs
encroached by greens from our farms
lying patiently in wait for harvest time
when all would be a blissful picture
of happiness all about

i saw these things before
where doom creeps upon an empire
and darkness envelopes the sun
creating one large ocean of blackness
like the dark continent of yesteryears
and a fertile ground becomes
a cemetery of dry barrenness
and our harvest becomes a
carnival of teeth gnashing
and dirges accompany our festivals
like entourages from the gods
where our water becomes red
scarlet like the blood in our veins
and our hopes badly defeated

i sang these songs before
lyrics of our perdition. our doom
dirges of our tribulations
wherein we wondered who we angered
with our default uprightness
and congregational habitation
songs of propitiations we offered
to helpless gods
who only sigh at our distress, but
offer no hope for our shattered souls
rhythms of our awaited extinction
when this turbulence of extermination
gently but surely overwhelms us
drowning us in our resignation to fate

but,
i shall sing these songs again
songs of our triumph. our vindication
when we all have gone home
home. our abode of eternal calmness.

Ademola, a theatre arts graduate, is a budding poet, who has written quite a number of poems that were published in his university days. Currently serving in the NYSC scheme he has continued to write good poems, that would consequently be published, soon.