Abu Noah Poetic Prowess
As the Mount Everest Family on November 11, 2010, marks five years of the passing away of its Late Chairman Rtd. Major Abu Bakarr Danielu Sidique Noah (known fondly at home and internationally as Abu Noah), the poetic vision and the evocative power of this man who was described in Abuja by Nigeria’s Obasanjo’s government in November, 2004 as ‘Africa’s Shakespeare’ is today highlighted.
In one of his numerous published anthologies of poems here is Abu Noah’s prophetic ‘Sierra Leone Shall Rise’ from the book Measuring My Country’s Heartbeats.
In these verses Abu Noah is at once lambasting the perennial ailments of Sierra Leone’s society - ‘envy’ and ‘detraction’. These he refers to as “dangerous weeds” that breed evil in our midst. These two destructive seeds have already affected many homes, he points out.
Sierra Leoneans must “watch out” lest the “dying embers” of the war that we had gone through be rekindled, he states.
The poet emphasises “Envy and detraction cloak sick minds”. He cautions that “lying, slippery tongues” distort every good in others and he points to “A dangerous array of chatter boxes” “No job; no food; no home”. “And decency’s chased by rabid foxes”
Abu Noah however is still optimistic despite all these ravages:
“Sierra Leone shall rise and flourish
Her sinews are being tried and hardened”
Please read on:
Sierra Leone Shall Rise
Beware, oh dear Sierra Leone
You systematically nurse dangerous weeds
They have been the bane of many homes
These two, envy and detraction, do evil breed
They pose, to all, ingenious riddles
Compounded, to baffle sound judgements
Though impudent and reckless in girdle
Wantonness and shameless bravado’s their filament
Alas, Sierra Leone, watch out
Enkindle not the dying embers of that conflagration
Which, dracula-like, consumed us in droughts
And left the young in consternation
Envy and detraction cloak sick minds
Hark, whence floweth such fearful din
Aye, mon Patrie, c’est vos enfants
They are addicted to the opium of sick whims
Blinded by the opacity of small minds
They distort every good in others
Their lying, slippery tongues, feed simple minds
With inveterate calumnies, their betters to bother
Alas, Sierra Leone, wither goeth thou
‘Halt, about face turn!’, says the ‘sojaman’
Every nation must to wisdom bow
Athens of West Africa, seek your oriflamme
Too many piglets in foxes’ holes
A dangerous array of chatter boxes
No job; no food; no home
And decency’s chased by rabid foxes
Sierra Leone shall rise and flourish
Her sinews are being tried and hardened
Lazy bones shall be nursed and furbished
And, the Athens of West Africa, shall, her fame regain
© Copyright by Awareness Times
Newspaper in Freetown, Sierra Leone.