MEMORIES

Look at me not for long

For as you are

So I was

And as you walk

So I did toss

And indeed…

I passed this way once before

One, two, three, four

At the snap of a finger

Memories are but no more

Back then…

Glitteringly glaring graves of grave graves

Body safes

Eternal caves

Beautiful beds, man-made

Made not for the living

But for those bound for Hades

As you were

So I was

Carrying a weighty cross

Cross of sorrows and loss

Loss of friends; true and false

Loss of family; hidden in death’s jaws

As you weep

So I dug deep

Into mysteries worth not the seek

Look at me not for long

For if I had been strong

As strong as a baby; man’s young

I would have laughed

Laughed my heart out till it was all torn

Though born of thorns

My headaches I would have ignored

My strength I would have brought on board

And the pleasures I could afford 

I would have afforded even if they were odd

Once we live to live

Only myself I live to please

Look at me not for long

For as I am

So you shall be

Pampered to the parish by pallbearers

Mourned by a multitude who care less

Friend, live on your papers

For where I am

You will be as lonely as the friendless

MARRIED MAN. WORRIED MAN

From a distance

I thought it was a matter of chance

Perfect pair

Man.Woman. None to err

Ordained by a deity

Until death do them tear

Adam. Eve. Romeo. Juliet

Each other’s interest was made clear

To uphold and love each other

Whether foul or fair

But..

Today I live with an Eve, without any care

Not even an iota

What I saw as the perfect picture

Only a mirage like another

My Eve is a stranger

A struggling stranger strangling strength out of me

Dews of nagging

Sunshine of bragging

My interests, her dislikes

My hobbies, the cause of our fights

And..

She’s the prophet of my doom

And the reason for my wounds

The teacher of my enemies

A woman of many hubbies

Don’t ask me what she has done today, too

Ask me what she hasn’t done today

For each day is an opportunity to devise evil

I wish I may

I wish single I had stayed

And more attention I had paid

To home-bred Eves and not just home-wed ones

I wish I may

I wish low I had laid

And more attention I had paid

Not to just Saturday white events

But to friendship long lasting

Someone tell me if I was set up

Set up to be strangled by a self-styled wife of a stranger

Show me where space is

I want to go hide there

Morning is yet to break

Her anger I’ll definitely kiss

Show me where the heavens are

I want to sue the deity

Who ordained this albatross of a marriage!

THIS FAMILY IS NOT FOR SALE

We are one

One blood. One mind. One flag.

One destiny. One tale. One tag.

1957 independence

2007 oil discovery

No coincidence

Osagyefo and other great leaders

Umbilical cords tied to this land of their birth

No matter how messy the mess is today

This family is not for sale

Black yesterday called white today

Corruption every day having a field day

Some have rights as gays

Because they can and will pay

And the poor can’t even have their say

Rich men envy the poor men

And poor man envy the rich’s den

Fat-salaried ministers

Emaciated government workers

Servants being the masters of torturers

Yet…

This family is not for sale

It’s only in our poverty, we see our riches

Diamond, cocoa and oil

Lived on by a few

Regardless of our collective toil

Of all the riches hidden in our soil

Our electricity they give to us in tots

Our desires have only become thoughts

And water has become as scarce as life

And bad roads as rife as political promises

This family could be sold so we could have our share, we wish

Maybe they could sell us, too

21^st century slave pool

So… tell them

This family is not for sale!

OUR PRESIDENT IS NOT A GHANAIAN

Our president is not a Ghanaian

He prefers to have his vacation at Hawaii

And imports his kitchenware from Shanghai

There’s a Kantanka

But he prefers a Bugatti

And often times a Ferrari

He takes a stroll at Dubai

From there his shirt buys

Ghanaian unGhanaian

Uncertainly certain

He believes in foreign content

Local ones he dumps into the bin

He pays his fellow Ghanaian

Exorbitantly less than his fellow Spanish

He wouldn’t mind buying a pizza dish

For the worth of a mansion

But not its fellow banku

Certainly uncertain

Not only are his long sleeves imported

His conscience is, too

Ghana bad, Ghanaians sad

Foreigners good, the white brainy

Little does he know

That the Ghana today

Was hard fought for out of bloody blows

Ignorantly ignorant

Our president’s shoes are American

His tooth picks are Mexican

Intercontinental African

His wife’s human cap is Brazilian

And her bag Philippian

He wears knickers from China

And overly oversized socks from Guyana

His country

All she can boast of is a cedi; one Ghana

Our president’s favorite team is Arsenal

And a few times Manchester

Manchester on another man’s land

And Arsenal on another’s sand

All our president exports are fatigued brains

Brains craving for the white man’s hand

Our president’s children

Never tasting the dose of education their father prepared

The education that makes the poor poorer

And the rich richer

Our president prefers a white coach

Forgetting we also prefer a white presidential coach

Not one whose identity

Has flown with the wings of ignorance

Neo-colonialism

Foreign favoritism

Our president you are

Our president we both are

Ghanaianly unGhanaian!