ODE TO MY TWO YEARS FATHER

Within me runs this thought just like an alcoholic possession

How that elderly man marked the land

At the right hand side of our building is made the provision

For the umudiala (ndi nwadiala) to open the sand

Then on nothingness of life I reflected

How that man I so revere as a father

Is now by death and darkness been collected

The sorrow and heartbreak on us bother

That doctrine of hylemorphism  now defiled

For him then dwells new era of dichotomized existence of body and soul

A new domicile grave for the body by rot be defiled

Heaven a home of eternity welcomes the soul

Oh 10^th March, 2011 away (hospital) you sent him

Oh 29^th April, 2011 death you availed us

Oh 16^th June, 2011 home you sent the corpse of him

Strife, agony and confusion then the lot of us

Can I also forget standing beside the graveside with the priests?

Hearing the thunder of cry from relatives

On their cry I became deaf in order to pray for the soul and for the crying become a catalyst

Then without knowing that life will still go on I thought I would be a fugitive

So great the solidarity of many friends

To mention names is to forget many

Gratitude I give them for helping me acquire amends

The challenge I took up to become a father to many

Wow, a great lesson I learnt

That ‘ozu onye ozo abughi ukwu nku’

My commiseration to many who are bereaved I sent

To identify with their sorrows and tell them ‘na mmadu abughi nku’

Now my father’s body is two years in the grave

My father’s soul is two years in heaven

The body is meant for a perishable domicile down the grave

The pure soul is destined for an imperishable domicile up the heaven

With great ‘espero’ (hope) I look forward for the time

Then, all deaths will be over (cf Rev 20:6)

Then we shall all be united together in that dome

Where all tears and strife will be over

As a worthy son I contend

The doctrine of communion of the saints I highlight

To offer my Sunday Mass and say the Office for the dead I intend

That day when we shall all meet to part no more I sight.