The Sanctity of Sanity

Whoever follows the news closely these days will find the call for sanity timely and tempting. We cannot call enough or plead enough. In doing so, we must recall the past and remind the players that today will pass as well. I thought it could be depersonalised if we internalise the words and music of the poem:

This STORM
Storms rumble
in the wombs of storm
The all-clear
be a thing of joy
Storms gather
to become a storm
The all-clear
is the what to hear...
and you head your way
Storms may be storms
or storm
And we dread
Storm may be storm
and storms
So we fret...
till all storm pass over
storm away

As they go, if they go
things go
A million things
hatch, happen and close
Songs are born
Souls are lost
A million ways
clash, catch and hobble
till the storm, and its storms
pass away

This storm I see is strange
Going jejely its way
we have shot for its world
hunting its bosom at will
and taunting its many storms
When it descends
it will rock the hunter
and the humble
It will cripple our weapons
and shields
and make a mockery
of our valiant past

Eh, it will come:
But when it goes
it will take the taunter
the cheerer
and the silent crowd
apart
It will consume

Eh, it will come:
But when it goes
all will be glum
and numb
It is the theatre
of fools and tools
Each fooling and tooling
for bounding poison

And, yes, it will go:
But when it finally goes
Our ways be blighted and bright
with the price of hate
and the prize be hope
When we learn, if we learn
we'll plant a timeless tree
in the bosom of pain
to stop us from crossing
the senseless line, again!

Dear compatriots, where will you be at point-of-reckoning in the bosom of time? That was the voice of the troubled poet on 28 June 2003 at 6.06 am. It rings true TODAY!

Who wants to rule must rule out violence in all its forms, formats and formations. Who seeks our votes must stick to rules and reason. They must all, all of them, be human enough to err and humble enough to erase. We are a forgiving nation, so let no politician pollute this polity again. If you win, win. When you lose, lose. Then NIGERIA will be a win-win PROJECT for all.

It is time to start cooking up the real issues...in MANIFESTOES...so that the world can pay more and better attention to our political engineering, not the negative news we so abhor. Stay tuned.