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 </div><p></p>Ani, in the nakedness of the night I stand before you,<br>
Deserted, even by my own shadow<br>
I am a man of many tribulations.<br>
Trapped in the thick Web of sorrows<br>
And soaked in the pool of agony,<br>
Save my soul, of this torment.
<p>Osun, let these eyes that feast on the beauty of your bank,<br>
Bear witness to my sorrowful heart,<br>
Of the ecstasy my soul bore<br>
When in an odd wedlock Abike became mine,<br>
Before the frowned faces of our seperate traditions and cultures<br>
Do not despise my sacrifice, I pray.</p>
<p>If my today is barren and refuses to birth tomorrow<br>
Let my cursed head bear its grieves to the grave,<br>
Let the memory of me, like dust before the wind, fade away,<br>
Let a man of my kind never raise his ugly head before the earth,<br>
If the gods could hear my wishes<br>
Then I say, Abike be free from the fetters of our culture’s curses.</p>
<p>Mother, I seek not the remedy to your denied blessings<br>
Nor the cure to the fire that burn in my arms,<br>
But you may bear my words in your heart,<br>
And tell the tale of how love rode on my little thought,<br>
Driving me across the land,<br>
In search of a maiden to bear my offspring.</p>
<p>Father, in my foolish wisdom<br>
Have I let your words fall on my deaf ears,<br>
Blinded by the dust raised in love’s wind<br>
I journeyed lonely through the path of folly,<br>
In the absence of my kinsmen<br>
To a strange land, where the grey haired detests the taste of kola nut.</p>
<p>Seven shallow graves behind my hut<br>
For my seven offspring<br>
Who had neither seen the departure of the moon,<br>
Nor the sorrowful face of their mother, Abike.<br>
Where’s love, the good evil that blinded me in folly,<br>
Come quickly, to the aid of your victim.</p>
<p>Ani, today Abike is heavy again,<br>
Let her milk filled breast not dry in vain<br>
Naked I stand before you, Ani<br>
To barter my soul for the freedom of my unborn,<br>
Lay not your anger on the innocent,<br>
Take me, let my sorrows end at my death.</p>
<p>*Ani – An Igbo god<br>
*Osun – Yoruba sea goddess</p>
<p><figure id="attachment_17821" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-17821" style="width: 900px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="http://poetry.wrr.ng/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/Nigerian-Poetry-HARVEST-OF-SORROWS-by-George-Shakewords.jpg"><img class="size-full wp-image-17821" src="http://poetry.wrr.ng/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/Nigerian-Poetry-HARVEST-OF-SORROWS-by-George-Shakewords.jpg" alt="Nigerian Poetry - HARVEST OF SORROWS by George Shakewords" width="900" height="562" loading="lazy"></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-17821" class="wp-caption-text">Nigerian Poetry – HARVEST OF SORROWS by George Shakewords </figcaption></figure></p>
 
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