Song Of Repentance Poem by Tony Adah

When you see them
Tell them I have gone
No longer in that enclave
Where crimson blood was our vow
And red and black the colour
Of our garbs.

I have shown the world my nakedness
That evil forest now a taboo
The long strenuous hours
Of initiation, the twinking stars
And the chattering of night birds
The sinister hoots of owls
And the songs of crickets all gone
Into the history of my past
.
I am no longer a double man
Like my blood stained double
Edged sword
I have gone to the stream
To do an etenal ablution
And I am white as snow, resplendent
As the cascading of our spring water
Down the valley of born again.

I have dropped my axe, my gun and all
Into the sea of repentance
Now I am a member of the
Ordinary crowd, my witnesses
Under this cleansing rain
I have paid my debts
And I am free, a negro untethered
From the stem of slavery
By the kind hand of abolitionists
My back to you old guys
And my front to the people.