Osu Poem by ANTHONY ANIGBATA

OSU (THE OUTCAST)

Outside is not enough
Inside we want to stop our feet
And be called, sons of our land
We were like others born
Carried in the bossom of the midwife;
Our shawl with the same sheen
Shown. So,
Set stretch the feast on the mat
Let's eat of the shrines meat
And drink of the pure wine
From the sacred horns
Of bulls. The birds to the tree top flock
And there finds a nest
But here, the ground does not like us
So they call us pariah
Treating no blood bath, on our heads
And our skin, no heirs' lanolin
When the festival fires, call for fun
O silent spirit of our fathers
You have left us and dark dawn on us
Make us one of you,
So we will no longer sing solitary songs
Under big trees, where you now dwell.
And if I ever will come to this place
After deaths chariots have carried me home wards
Will come like others
Where many heads befriend the spread mat
And the evening call the colony
To the moonlight lit playgrounds.
In the spidery lines of descent
There, far there the boner may lie
Yet we sprouts are all outsiders
Slaves at the mercy of the people at the palace