Welcome Home: Achebe Poem by John Chizoba Vincent

I could still remember that future banner
Fixed at the street of Anambra saying:
Welcome home, Achebe, 'our great hero'
Anambra still mourn you, we mourn you
The British protected child born with African tradition.



Thousand years shall your words linger
In our minds and spirit, your legacy shall
Survive through the dying Anthill of the savannah.
Tears like raindrops falling down my eyes now;
As the thought of your undying memories remains,
A day without your face causes more harm to hearts.



Though we miss you here like dreams,
Though we drive not in your destination,
Many thought your names shall be forgotten
But we still have the paintings in the sky;
Paintings that says million of your proverbs.
We bring you home to rest in the bosom
Of your people whose eyes hope for tomorrow.



My desperate heart calls out your names to the wind;
My tears, agony and sorrow forms the rain in the sky.
I can look the sun in the face and fight for your sake,
Death has done us bad than good like sickness,
I imagine him from afar in my mind like a demon.
Homeless children roam here and there dared of him.



He who strips off a child's wrapper to orphan,
He who makes a man to go without his dreams,
He who never look at face before taking has taking
You home but we bring you home to rest; Achebe.
This I promise that the name Chinua shall forever
be engraved in the history of the world, never to be
Erased by any mortal.


The story of a strong man lost in hands of death,
Though it hurts, I draw those memories of him
From afar and nearby through the mainstreams.
We welcome you home through our watery eyes,
We flap our tears here and there to buttress our agony
Go in peace, Achebe, we shall sing praise of you
Here again and never stop singing again and again.





(C) John Chizoba Vincent
Voice Of Vincent 2016