Changes Poem by MAGNUS AMUDI

Changes

So many things have changed
Since the publication
Of that holy book
The Bible so called

Some have gone soar
Like my mother’s Nile soup
Lazarus no longer the rich man hear
Talk more of his house enter

His soars now licked not
Now he knew better
The importance of his visits
To such a house of plenty

Even the sacred libation
Is no longer poured
Greed has taken over

Now the palm wine
Has lot its distinctive feature
Of destabilizing the feet
And bribing the eyes

The palm oil
Is now like a gum
Gluing the lips at a meal

Shall I now talk about our festivals?
Where the untapped breasts of maidens
Tantalize the old eyes
And the mad running songs

Of course, these songs are killed
With these electrifying ones
That makes our women half-sane
Sharing what belongs to others

Father, our forests are empty
And deserted of all kinds of
Your evening meats

You might be surprised
We have no more gods now
Maybe we no longer them worship
The Ngwu and the Orji
Are now the pregnant man’s roofs

We no longer our offering share
They are for the pious

Father, our sisters’ suitors
Now come and lure them away
Denying us the moon time jokes
And the dance now forgotten

At times, they bring us
As if as a mockery
Pots full of sugary liquids
I refuse to call them palm wine

Father, our boundaries we fought to keep
Is readjusted
To suit your contenders
As no one wants to fight your course

I am here imprisoned
For refusing to sell
Your elephant tusk and your eagle feather
The only thing that reminds me of our Royalty

The sacred forest
Now a place for picnics

Tell Emezu, that the title
Are long forgotten and devalued
What have long differentiated
The noble and the nobodies

Do you know?
That which you and mum did at night
Is now done in an open field
In the presence of astonished kids

You might also be surprised
That full-borns’ now beggars
On the road sides of our clan
In broad hearts and healthy structures

Our wives no longer cook
Like mother did for you years back
All they do is seat and paint
A face to despise

I am sick of this all
Tell me, how you feel
Should I come or tarry

Even the aroma of killed fowl
Are no longer smelled
I fear to tell you worse

My son is crying
I think he needs his napkin changed

Soonest, I shall tell you more
Of a world so much different
From where you once stayed
And thought me how to sow
The yam, and plant the corn
Where we once danced the Igede
That portrayed our caliber

Where u taught me never to
Cheat my friends
And never to pollute the stream
Meant for the whole clan

Father, remember you told me
Not to throw stones into the market square
For maybe my sisters went therein

I remember the days
In which you won the matches
And threw Amalenze the cat
That day we feasted on antelopes
And drank first class palm wines

All these are now images
In my wrecked brain
I can remember no further
For things are so different
Like blood and water

Father, you shall no longer
Your daughters recognize
For they are bleached to ripe
Like the processes of the Banana
That mother sold periodically

They now frown at the Ogiri
Which mother adores dearly
And you so did
On your table at night

Have you heard?
That no one your tongue speaks
Even those that try
Cannot unpolluted do

If you appear today
We shall converse with signs
Like the dumb son of Ozoude