Why We Drape In Black Funeral Clothes Poem by Dela Bobobee

Why we drape in black funeral clothes
is not that black is the colour of death
neither is black the colour of evil - far be it!

Adios, Dumega Hunnour T.K Bobobee
“Papa, hede nyui, ya wor odwogbaa”!

When a giant shady tree dies birds sing
not for the demise of an ample bosom
their mournful cries are always in blithe

so in our grief we learn new joyful dirges
for when a tree dies its stump grows back
that is why we must stifle our grief with joy
beneath our sombre faces lurk elation
as funerals become a celebration of life-
a life well spent to complete a full circle
to see a war veteran’s wardress adorned
with arrays of great-grandchildren as a legacy

when in funeral processions we drape in black
it is not because it is the colour of death, far be it
the colour black is enigmatic like the magic of life
and so black is required for all other colours
to have depth and variants of hue –
it's a dynamic trait that embodies ritual,
dignity, force, reunion, strength –
it heals all wounds and misunderstanding
and above all, black is zero tolerance, and endless

life is a circle, never to be linear
the present belongs to the living
as the past is for the ancestors
and the future is for the unborn –
waiting for a turn to start another circle

“Papa, hede nyui, ya wor odwogbaa!
Adios, Dumega Hunnour T.K Bobobee
your befitting burial is a festival of life
that spawn arrays of offspring to live on

the sun sets, here comes the voyager at last
Papa, as you are going to that grand home
greet all the ancestors waiting to be reborn
greet Mama Adzinor, Freda Awusi Akwetey for me
please tell her that, her parting words are evergreen
like a tiny bell with an echoing chime in my heart
“my son, be like a tree planted by the rivers of water”

“Papa, hede nyui, ya wor odwogbaa!
Adios, Dumega Hunnour T.K Bobobee

By Dela Black Bobobee –
on behalf of your descendants.