To Tony Blair

You've had your best
Now leave the rest
to catch the crest
lest you become
a looming pest

You gave your best
and bore no rest
Now be the test
of honour's crest
So take your rest

You won't be lost
to history's ghost
Nor can blast
the recent past
So take your rest

Though as you go
there's much so left
The rumour mills
Some leaky tips
More misty laps
Oh, Tony Boy, cast
them aside
They needn't be your cost...
just your cross!

Every leader their load to bear
So what
Every season their loathe to give
So what
We be the story and the sorry
save there is no grit in us
We be the worry and the wary
save there be just air to us
Every leader, every people:
this day
past day
future day
It is a song whose tune, cold lyrics
and tense rhythm
may mix here and there
but plays all the same

It played for others
it plays for you
it will play again
So so, dearest Tony
tap your gain
zap your pain
and grab your rest
It's cheerio!


It was bound to come. Now it has. British Prime Minister Tony Blair has to go. Has agreed to go. If the media must be believed, it may be sooner than later. It may also be acrimonious. It must not come to sour grapes or opportunism. Need not.

In a way, the bad blood (if it exists) and the bad press (which now persists) will damage party and harm country, if not curbed. So all hands must be on deck, right away.

To one of my most favourite PMs, I plead aloud: Leave, with party and country as intact and hopeful as 1998! Do so, soon.

To one of my most favourite Chancellors of the Exchequer, Gordon Brown, I ask this loud: Help party and country remain high. Rally the troops, warts and all, behind the common goal. Help Tony, your friend - it has its rewards!

Do It Ya Way

Fly your path
Son
and do it your way
Try your gear
Girl
and wear it your style
For if the world
were just for bore
all stars
be tied ashore
So, tear rules apart
but mind the law
Take hell to task
but tell the lore
For if the heavens
were just a bore
why prick the whore

Map your path
Son
and see it your way
Tap your gift
Girl
and bear it your mile
For if the now
were all we're worth
all our songs
be bland and bare
So, change lines anew
but mind the law
Make news by dew
but keep the rain
For if a morrow
were true for gold
why mock the fold

Hey, here be my take
for questing souls:
By the map and tap
may your path
not snap
By the lines and times
may your mind
blow chimes
So, in the fullness thereof
you did it your way!


Pa Michael Imoudu was (it's hard to say, was!) Nigeria's No 1 Labour Leader, changing our very world of trade unionism. A patriot and legend of both his epoch and our annals. He made history by creating history. He lived long: over 100! By all our wishes, he surely rests in peace; perfect peace.

Now by Skype I've met Marcus, his chemical engineer son....happily questing in Europe. Like all in the African Diaspora, he pains about home and for home. And he has dreams like all: hoping all be well for one and all. He can act, if he dares. The job be cut out: Waste To Wealth, he says.

By blood, by facts, boy, your job be clear. Tough? Yes. Shy? No.

As Papa would've said, I say as well: "Bring Europe to Africa....and do it ya way!"

Mixes, Mystery, Mystique on Mirror Moors

Marshes have thrown up maggots
and faggots before
Mooring be known to divers
scanning rivers
and seas
If the crude years be bore
how sweet
is Brent crude tonight
If distant voices be strange
how sweet
is each bond we strike
This be the mystery
of mixes
Let the mirror speak
tonight

I know of a gentle soul
lurking in firming moors
But the city won't have it be
I know of a trembling dawn
waiting in warm beaches
But the whispers aren't low enough
I asked the Sage for a ribboned writ
to tackle same case some day aloud
But the mystery won't let him speak
So I entered, and centred my gaze:
Alas! There is mirror, there is candour
and humour gallore

Marshes and maggots
faggots and moors
Aha!
Mornings and mirrors
mystery to mix
Aha!
And the beauty of this mission
be the passion of bonds:
One hold, sweet honour
One flow, sweet humour
And the world sails on!

Where we land will hand
us a day
our pay
and plentiful say
How we land will hand
us the way
to the pay
of people's day
What we finally land
be the hand we hand
or bland
When we land it
is how we stand it:
Whether for self or all

By the Sage's nod
we must search the moors
or moor in vain
If not, the mystique of souls
be bore
and the mystery of mixes
is forever lost!


Some of the magic of our common universe came to the fore the other day when my brainy interlocutor posed the question, "what is life?". I always thought it is "give and take" or "seek and find". Certainly not "grab and grab"!

In a word, life, for me, is about "bonds". And, in this wide world of ours, how can you not find a reason to bond; and thus the reason to search? Known and unknown!

Searching has thrown up ponders, and....wonders.

If you doubt, try the www search engines! If you care, try people: humans, homes, humanity!!

Each Dagger Dims Us

As they fang and froth
each dagger dims the nation
in dimmer depths
and awe

As they bang and belch
each dagger shows the nation
their blurry binge
and blight

As they string and sting
each dagger dims the nation
in sorry songs
and sights

As they suck and spurt
each dagger dams the nation
in looney loots
and hoots

As they rat and rant
each stabbing sucks the nation
of worthy souls
and songs


I was reminded of how infighting and politicking can turn and twist things in quick bounds and rebounds when the Nigerian Presidency became a battle ground for boss and vice. A tour of the media, including the Internet, will amuse, bemuse, and awe you. Aso Rock be now a war zone! Quite revealing.

I just wonder how easily the outpouring erodes all of the image-building our globe-trotting top dogs claimed they've been doing all these years - at huge costs, and at such painful neglect of the home-front. Pray, which investor or tourist will now come to our land, in the light of these giddy revelations? What do we tell our children?

We know top preachers and imams who are close to the presidency; what would they tell their awe-striken faithfuls now? Or the Almighty God they so professed? What will the equivalent slugfest at gubernatorial and LG chairmanship levels reveal? All those sanctimonious TV shows and preachments, how will they add up: upheld integrity or scandalised dishonour? We wait.

By the way, this applies to any polity or people, as we be gauged, if not judged, by the display of our top men and women. Especially their excellencies, particularly the presidency.

May the people beware!

Damn De Drift

Loss
And we all lost
Hurt
And we still hurt
Love
There be much need
Hope
We must all hold

Palestine, Israel, Lebanon:
Now we mourn
Soon we repair
to stem their despair
Iraq, Sudan, Afghanistan:
Courage on the run
needing an overturn
And we mourn
by loud despair
Yes, we mourn

Hello
The souls now gone
hear guns no more
Hello
The tolls now borne
tear homes far more
And we hurt
Yes, we hurt

Bombs and bullets won't win the wars
They may cut at dawn
Tanks and mortars can't kill the hate
They may cut at dusk
If a magic were the logic
today be the day to act
For it must be talks:
Talks from the noblest depths
to drive us to love
Tongues from the safest breaths
that speak what be meant

Give kids the peace
not grisely tease
Grant moms the ease
not burning grease
Let's plant for peace
Snap
Snap out of hate, dear player
Snatch
Snatch peace from war, oh power
So the souls so gone
may rest in peace
And the souls so here
may reap the peace

Oh dear!


I can't think of a better time for the world to take a break and take stock of the business of wars in today's world. Sometimes I wonder if we count, sometimes I ponder how we count. In a way, it must mean that things add up in different ways for each of us. That way, we can live with how things fail to change despite our awe. Or the massive failure in our quest for regimenting the world and its civilizations, despite our guile.

As we take a blinking break from the breath-taking happenings around, wouldn't it be profitable to think again, and aloud: "How or what will life be if I were stuck in them horror spots of our planet?"

We may land with different and differing thoughts. No matter. At least we would have thought.

To ACT for peace will be steps away!