1. For he was but a believer in Utopia & Cupid's Arrow

KWENU! Our culture, our future

1. For he was but a believer in Utopia

HENRY CHUKWUEMEKA ONYEAMA

Awka, Nigeria

Thursday, April 13, 2006

Is he the one to take us to Canaan?

Is he the dynamo to power our dreams?

Is he the balm to soothe our souls?

The waters to quench the age-old thirst of the parched land?

We wished. We hoped. We prayed.

But the song he sang was the song of ages gone by.

The song of a ghost unable to leave the mortal realms.

The song of yore.

For he was but a believer in Utopia

who mouthed the phrases of the past.

The chains shackled him.

Chains of hands digging, burrowing into our future

to build their tear-filled and blood-soaked today.

The net ensnared him.

Nets of fishermen who fished out of our collective lake

as if it were their private lake.

The hooks fastened him.

Hooks of men whose heaven was our common hell.

Alas, what could he do?

For he was but a believer in Utopia

trapped by the Dark Ages.

2. Cupid's Arrow

When Cupid fired his arrow

the centre of my soul he struck.

When Aphrodite summoned

my heart for you bowed.

Could my eyes on another feast

after beholding this heavenly sculpture?

This radiant star?

I sought to reach out and touch Love

and Love gave you to me.

Henry Chukwuemeka Onyeama is a Nigerian teacher and writer.