From the recesses of his expansive chambers
His fat fees safe in his large till
He lent his hands to hold down her legs
And in turns, under his eyes
Wily suitors had their way with her;
Standing on the lawns of the temple
Her legs wobbly ; her body weary
Her sword drooping ; her scales in shambles
Discerning men bitterly queried:
Who raped the sacred Lady sick?
Stepping forward with audacious legs
A man who espied the odious act
From a vantage perch like a tapper atop his palm tree
Spoke up in a strident voice :
I saw them –an elder in the temple and his cohorts;
Rankled, the elder with the lords of the kingdom
Set the dogs on the man
And swooping like ravenous hawks
They carried him off, bound in cuffs
Casting his body into a cell in the elder’s fiefdom;
But across ages, from pole to pole
Rebellious winds blowing away veils and facades
Have always fed to nescient eyes
Shuddering images of leprous patches
Concealed beneath ornate robes by rogue nobles;
Messengers may rot in dungeons
But in the fullness of time
Inhumed voices of truth shall rise
With the piercing messages they bear
Resonating unbound across hills and vales.
COMMENTARY
In the first stanza, I can see a Nigerian legal doyen, Efa Lolababa, aiding and abetting the rape of this lady victim (the elegant Lady Justice). Though he didn’t mount to ravish the lady, perhaps because of age, but is here a principal offender in the crime of the felony, by virtue of Section 7 of the Criminal Code Act, having “lent his hands to hold down her legs.”
The old man may have been presented as a voyeur of a sort by the poet, and so didn’t take his own turn in the rape because he habitually derives a vicarious pleasure from watching “wily suitors have their way with her” “under his eyes.”
The lady is writhing in rape throes in the second stanza. The gang rape is manifestly taking its toll on her, as her legs are “wobbly” and “her body weary.” She is too spent that her both hands are tremulous. Her left hand cannot achieve a firm grip of her sword as it is “drooping.” The scales with which she gauges justice has fallen off the quivering left hand and crashed on the ground.
Where was the sword during the rape, I ask. Perhaps, the old man disarmed her of the sword and concealed it somewhere in the same “expansive chambers” before the rape. He must be a strong old man.
“Discerning men” who have seen in what rot and wretchedness the lady justice is “bitterly queried: Who raped the sacred lady sick.” Here I see the Odinkalus, the Falanas, the Okutepas, the Ozekhomes, the Agbakobas, the Kperogis.
“With audacious legs” in stanza three, Lede Timifaro (read this name again), stepped “forward” with his book, having “espied the odius act from a vantage perch like a tapper atop his palm tree.”
In a profound application of two figures of speech – Simile and Imagery – the poet likened the clarity of Timifaro’s witness of the “odious act” of rape to that of a palmwine tapper, who from the rooftop of his palm tree, sees everything that happens in every corner of the village bush. Timifaro’s book “spoke up in a strident voice: I saw them – an elder in the temple and his cohorts.”
In stanza four, the war started. The legal doyen was “rankled” by the truth spoken in Timifaro’s book. So, with his co-rapists who are the “Lords of the kingdom,” he “set the dogs on the man,” Timifaro.
Those uniformed “ravenous hawks” who now compete with the judiciary on which sector shall ridicule the justice system of our country faster, “swooped” and “carried him off, bound in cuffs, casting his body into a cell in the” old man’s “fiefdom.” The old man dominates that space – he too owns there!
In stanza five, “rebellious winds” are revealing the concealed anus of the fowl. Nigerians now see that “beneath ornate robes” of these hitherto respected and respectable men lie “shuddering images of leprous patches.” And what a shame!
To me, what seemed a prophecy by the poet in stanza six is already happening before our very eyes. Now is that “fullness of time.” Already, “inhumed voices of truth” are rising. They now bear “piercing messages.” And no matter how hard they try to muffle those voices of truth, this modern age of social media shall ensure that their messages resonate “unbound across hills and vales.”
Chinedu Agu
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