Iwo Son Of Odionwu Poem by Arinzechukwu Bright Okafor

Between the Omambala,
the Niger and Ezichi,
where the green forest breathed
and rivers carried fish to the hungry,
there lived the people of Anam.

The rivers gave,
and the rivers took.
When the rains came hard,
they swallowed homes and farms,
then went away,
leaving fish and fertile earth behind.

In that land was Odionwu—
he is not supposed to die.

And he had a son, Iwo,
a man built like the iroko,
broad in the shoulder,
strong in the arm,
with courage that made men
look twice before speaking his name.

Then came the day
when Nwinya, his only child,
went into the forest for firewood
and did not return.

Iwo searched.

Under the great Okwe tree
he found her—
silent, cold,
while two young leopards
played beside her body.

Grief became anger.

The mother leopard came roaring,
and Iwo did not run.

Claws tore his thighs.
Blood ran down his legs.
Still he held the beast.

He dragged it from the forest
into the village square
and ended its life with his machete.

But the forest was not
Anam's only enemy.

Across the Niger lived the Ako,
men who came for human heads,
men who entered villages
like death entering a house.

Three came for Iwo.

One fell.

Two ran.

"Go back, " Iwo thundered,
"and carry your dead with you."

They obeyed.

The elders knew what would follow.

War.

Ayaka, the spiritualist,
made a talisman for the warrior
who would lead the people.

But there was a price:

Whoever wore it
would die.

Iwo stepped forward first.

"I will wear it."

But the people feared
that Anam would lose its greatest fighter.

Then Ama stepped forward.

"Let me wear it in his place, " he said.
"Only promise me this—
do not let them take my head."

The Ako came in many canoes,
more than fifty,
dark against the river.

Anam was ready.

Arrows flew.
Machetes flashed.
Men shouted.

And Iwo fought
as though grief itself
had taken human form.

Ama fought beside him
until a spear found his chest.

He fell.

Iwo saw him fall
and became a storm.

He killed the man who struck Ama
and kept his promise.

By sunset,
the Ako were defeated.

Ama was carried home
with honour.

And the people remembered:

A man may die,
but courage does not.

They sang of Iwo,
son of Odionwu,

and through the generations
one saying remained—

"It is Iwo, the son of Odionwu,
that taught us bravery."