A Poem by Akor Emmanuel Oche

Sailor Sail Home

We see the footprints of our childhood
stamped on this loess soil,
on this land whose trajectories we know,
on this savannah planes ariable for marching boots.
This mountain barricade, submounted by pointing riffles.
Along with this farlon body, is a dirge.
Sing it to the merriment of passers by.
Native!
We once sang the songs of neo-nomadic men
when the price of a sheep is a banquet for the host community.
Native!
Nostalgia serves you a flagon as you roll and row.
Sir!  Here, take a sip
of mud houses roofed with elephant grass.
Of marchets sounding the drumbeats of war,
of women bathing in the streams unclad,
of men whose valor touch the sky.
We see our footprints on this mystical floor.
Native!
We sail, you sail but never reach the corridors
of men politicing negritudes in spree.
Sailor sail home,
to the place where waters are dark rooms
and the sea a castle.
We see the footprints of our childhood
stamped on this loess soil,
on this land whose trajectories we know.




Akor Emmanuel Oche is a Nigerian poet, critic, essayist and thinker.