A Son's Appeals To His Father Poem by Olatunji Ayimora

A Son's Appeal To His Father by Olatunji Ayimora

Indeed my father is as thick as baobab tree
Black, tall, large and wealthy
My fathers has many farmlands with crops and animals
My father is a man of many wives
A father of many children he is
None of his wives is barren

Out of my father's wives three are very large
As large as mother elephants
One of the three is not happy with my father
Once fought the whole house just to leave my father
Father fought back just to stop her from going with her children
What is it about her that father could not let go?
Her round waist with beads and ornaments?
Her robust legs with ankle bracelets?
Her face like a moon in her glory?
Her many children with the look of my father?
Indeed, my father's wife is beautiful

For many years we dwell in peace again
Peace of the graveyard it is
Trust is scarce in my father's house
My father is apparently not doing anything about it.
My step mother do not feel easy
She wanted her freedom from my father
Freedom like a bird out of shackles
Freedom like a fox out of the snare
Freedom like a fish out of the net

My mother and the other wives are not happy either
Father is not treating any of them well
My father's children suffer everyday
They struggle in the midst of plenty
The farms that my father has
Belong to each of his wives
When any of them leaves, my father's wealth diminishes also
My father has nothing of his own

But my father's ways are crooked
How can we help my father?
How will he ever change his ways?
Who do will call to talk to him?
Will he ever listen to the voice of elders?
Does he ever listen to the voice of reason?
I love my father with all my heart
Because I am my father's son
But my father needs help
My father is afraid of tomorrow
Is my father's fear misplaced?
Or should he be afraid?

There is tension in my father's house
'Yeepa', ' yeepa', ' yeepa'
Who will call my father to order
From killing one of his wives
The mother I love so much
Father is going crazy
He is beginning to dance in the market
Will father dance unclad?
People are asking what is wrong with my father
What is wrong with my father?

Fathers are mirrors
They show children the path
They show mothers the way
The task is not an easy one
But other fathers are succeeding
Will my father succeed?
Elders of our time and clime
Plead my father's course to his estranged wife
Perhaps she will sheathe her sword
And see reasons with my father
And stay with my father
The elders that see the future
Plead father's course to his wife
Things are not always the way they seem
Mother can not take the place of father
In the life of my brothers
My brothers are of different colors
Some are hairy and some are bare
None can take the place of our father

Father, please sleep seven sleeps
You will see what others see
When you wake up after the seventh
The wisdom released to you
Use it to set your house in order
That your wives and children
May have soft spots for you
This is a plea from a son
Who loves his brothers
And all his father's wives
This son loves his father's many farms
And a big compound, bigger than other fathers.