'This is a name that sends chills down my spine
A hazy Saturday morning it was
When the devil decided to strike Westgate Mall
It was a chilly morning
When we least expected to hear something bad
More than five men with some dressed as women entered via the car park exit
Another batch entered through the main entrance
They start shooting sporadically
They shot at anybody they saw without any guilt or mercy
Al-Shabaab they mentioned
That name hit me, linked to al Qaeda
Boom boom
I saw a known face that had been hit by a bullet
It was my mentor and my father
Prof. Kofi Awoonor had been hit
I felt heat all over my body
As a terrible event had befallen us when we least expected it
A harmless man has been hit by the devil
What is happening to me
Am I dreaming?
If yes then I need to wake up
It is all over the news
It must be real
I can never forgive these cowards
Who could kill a person as harmless as Prof
The world has lost a gem who has no germ in his persona
The clouds have gone dark
All birds refuse to sing
Snakes refuse to hiss
Cocks refuse to crow
The heavenly angels have all gone quiet
An immaculate being has fallen
Life is incomplete
Incomplete with the nurturing of the gem
The gem in the person of Prof Awoonor
Due Dada. Nantew yie
Hmm life is a crazy puzzle'
Julian Adomako-Gyimah is a co-founder of One Ghana, One Voice.
This poem is part of our series of poems in memory of Kofi Awoonor. You can learn more about Awoonor and the series here. If you have a poem in memory of Kofi Awoonor, please send it to us at oneghanaonevoice(at)gmail(dot)com.
2 comments:
pfectsiI am very happy that poems have finally started trickling in for Kofi Awoonor tribute series. Indeed, all rains start with trickles before the heavy downpour. More will be pouring in soon as expected.
In my opinion, Snr. Poet Darko Antwi may be right in saying that: - recreating the "brutal" scene where the professor was "forcefully ushered" into eternity, could be infuriating. Yes, indeed some readers may find it so. Yet still, I beg to share a different opinion on that - life is not a mirage, its stark reality points to the fact that we are living in a violent age that has no regards for the sanctity of life. I guess it doesn’t really matter now how individual poets handle his tribute poems to mirror the colour reflection of that ugly image we may really wish to erase from our memories. Generations yet unborn would come across such poems and know the moral decadence of the vile society that gave birth to their progeny.
A typical example of the point I wish to make here can be seen in reference to the cross. The cross on which our Lord Jesus Christ was brutally crucified is still being used in Christian churches not because it is pleasant to relive those infuriating horrible ordeals He passed through by using the object of his torture as a sacred symbol. On the contrary, the cross symbolically signifies his victory – what is usually referred to as “His Victory on the Cross of Calvary.” What about the cross pendant in the rosary? We hug, kiss and look passionately on the cross as a symbol of redemption from our deprave nature as sinners. Jesus was crucified by Roman soldiers, who used the cross, Rome’s most degrading and torturous form of execution versus the Jewish favorite capital punishment of ancient stoning. The Roman soldiers who crucified Jesus Christ in such a gruesome manner would later become the first to lay the foundation of Christendom (Emperor Constantine was not really a Christian, by the way) The Vatican is based in Rome in Italy, and Rome – was the capital of the erstwhile Roman Empire and now the Italian capital. The Roman Empire included most of what would now be considered Western Europe. The empire was conquered by the Roman Army and a Roman way of life was established in these conquered countries. The main countries conquered were England/Wales (then known as Britannia), Spain (Hispania), France (Gaul or Gallia), Greece (Achaea), the Middle East (Judea) and the North African coastal region.
Now coming to the poem, Westgate – by Julian Adomako-Gyimah. It is quite a moving poem that vividly recreates what shock, chills and heat that might have gone through the entire world upon hearing the sudden sad news of how the late Kofi Awoonor and other persons (including innocent little kids) were slain in cold blood.
The name "Westgate" used as the title of the poem is apt because it has now become synonymous with violent death perpetrated by senseless fanatics just as the twin towers of the World Trade Centre has become synonymous with the grim horrors of 9/11. Let the brutal depiction in the lines of poem remain accusatory on their conscience for the day of retribution will surely come.
I can just feel the after effects of the reverberating:
“Boom boom” -
“The world has lost a gem who has no germ in his persona
The clouds have gone dark
All birds refuse to sing
Snakes refuse to hiss
Cocks refuse to crow
The heavenly angels have all gone quiet
An immaculate being has fallen
Life is incomplete
Incomplete with the nurturing of the gem
The gem in the person of Prof Awoonor”
Well-done, Julian Adomako-Gyimah. Your poem is the first poem to be showcased in this tribute series and it has indeed set the ball straight rolling by giving us a vivid screenplay flashback of the sad events that brought about this particular tribute series in memory of the Late Kofi Awoonor.
Julian is on point with this lament for Prof. Awoonor. Its power lies in unequivocation. The truth is best served in poetry.
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