Elegy for Slit-Drum

Condolences ... from our swollen lips laden with condolences: // The mythmaker accompanies us / The rattles are here with us // condolences from our split-tongue of the slit drum condolences // one tongue full of fire / one tongue full of stone — // condolences from the twin-lips of our drum parted in condolences:;. // the panther has delivered a hare / the hare is beginning to leap / the panther has delivered a hare / the panther is about to pounce — // condolences already in flight under the burden of this century: // parliament has gone on leave / the members are now on bail / parliament is now on sale / the voters are lying in wait — // condolences to caress the swollen eyelids of bleeding mourners. // the cabinet has gone to hell / the timbers are now on fire / the cabinet that sold itself / ministers are now in gaol — // condolences quivering before the iron throne of a new conqueror: // the mythmaker accompanies us (the Egret had come and gone) // Okigbo accompanies us the oracle enkindles, us / the Hornbill is there again (the Hornbill has had a bath) // Okigbo accompanies us the rattles enlighten us — // condolences with the miracle of sunlight on our feathers: // The General is up ... the General is up ... commandments ... / the General is up the General is up the General is up — // condolences from our twin-beaks and feathers of condolences: // the General is near the throne / an iron mask covers his face / the General has carried the day / the mortars are far away — // condolences to appease the fever of a wake among tumbled tombs // the elephant has fallen / the mortars have won the day / the elephant has fallen / does he deserve his fate / the elephant has fallen / can we remember the date — // Jungle tanks blast Britain’s last stand — // the elephant ravages the jungle / the jungle is peopled with snakes / the snake says to the squirrel / I will swallow you / the mongoose says to the snake / I will mangle you / the elephant says to the mongoose / I will strangle you // thunder fells the trees cut a path / thunder smashes them all — condolences ...

Thunder that has struck the elephant / the same thunder should wear a plume — condolences // a roadmaker makes a road / the road becomes a throne / can we cane him for felling a tree — condolences ...

Thunder that has struck the elephant / the same thunder can make a bruise — condolences: // we should forget the names / we should bury the date / the dead should bury the dead — condolences // from our bruised lips of the drum empty of condolences: // trunk of the iron tree we cry condolences when we break, / shells of the open sea we cry condolences when we shake ...