Ever Narrowing Face Poem by LIGHTCHEERFUL BRIGGS

The days are fast approaching:
For the festivity to take place;
As those rendered senile by age,
Raised their voices in a paroxysm of ancient songs of heroism.
The atmosphere of reminiscence became that of nostalgia
Fraternal sphere were not far from being cordial.
That was the period of our gathering;
A period when nature worked in harmony
With those that deserve it.
Such was the mode of life; declared the ferry man
As he hastily paddled to the old-shipping, the Elem-Kalabari.
Custom holds it a visit once annually
For its celebration and atonement of Goddess Akaso
Believed to have saved them from super natural phenomenon.
Here we used to sit and tell tales of our ancestral spirit guides;
And partake of the remnants of her pastures
Here stood the crumbling wall -the very spots that marked the walls.
There the priest once libated and atoned the goddess.
Here we used to gather to sing, for the tremendous prowess of ‘AKASO'- WAINGI.
Now these rites and ordinances gone into oblivion
Today traditional gestures no more spoken of,
Only but replaced by borrowed culture.
What an abomination! No, never gain say, nor hold sway
Oyibo-Onye-ocha, have you come only to strangulate my people?
You appear immaculate but act the deceit
Is it not you that professed of the ‘Unknown-God'?
You speak of honesty and the knowledge of Him; yet far you from it
No! You had to go- and have gone.
You that profess justice; why do you enslave us,
That we should struggle for freedom
Yet you deprive us of our inheritance.
Nah! We shall no more be slaves in our heritage
No, we shall no more be slaves to you.
Transparency and justice is our course no, you must go-and you are gone forever.