Poem by Tade Ipadeola

TALARIA

There was Lu Xun-all pith
Robed in silk he sought
The sum of all singing
And seeking walked
Spare into one sunset.

There was Sun Tzu
When he smiled, when
He deigned to smile,
The shogun retreated
Withe their lives as pryze
Out of heavy ground.

Then there was Okigbo:
Son of thunder
Unfriend of guns
Who lies buried
In a plot of gunpowder
Angry as hell.

And there was you
Passed-over poet and priest:
You were all good-
Giving blackbirds a song
And the world a glimpse
Of Icarus.


(For R.S Thomas)

©Tade Ipadeola

*Reproduced with permission

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