An Albatross * Poem by Niki Nicholas Nkuna

Your name came in whispers from anonymous people
Your name, an albatross that remained with us until the fall of the skies
The point of origin obscured by the whisper in darkness and daylight in the bush
Faint sound of your name raised my hope to see sunrise, the rain and the bloom
Assured of the day when the suppression of the voice of reason will end
Despite ambivalence that distorted my ray of hope and believe

I saw the name in misty syllables,
Inaudibly called out and never touched as skunk
My curiosity held on to the spear due to the strange mist
Everywhere there were henchmen as they are everywhere today
They were teachers and laymen who knew their students and congregation
Who taught and preached in the dark, behind closed doors and bushes during the day
My determination to hold on threatened by the precarious dangle and the abyss fall

Little did I know, albeit I now know, with the pass of untold days and nights
That my hero is holding on vice grip to the sky
The cunning visitation of the devil sought to convince him to let go
And told him not to worry about the hard fall on the rubble of nonentities
For he will be at the top of the castle looking down with an apparition’s smile

Henchmen coerced the same and lured by white ghosts’ generosity
To let go of the precarious dangle and leave him in the extreme cold of the Atlantic Ocean
Fortunately his suppressed whisper was audible enough
And beckoned them to endure the burden of oppression until the fall of the skies
My hero’s return sure to be hush with the truth like the bulldozer if not the Tsunami
Thanks to the almighty the henchmen held on to the spear
And he held on to the sky
Now the sun has risen, the rain has come and bloom has dawned
The sky is clear, the obstacles of injustice gone with the wind!