Efe Paul Azino
One for the Tribe
One for the Tribe
This is for the storytellers
watchers at the temple of language
those whose heads brush against the sun
whose hearts weave tales from our laughter
and spin our sorrows into songs
this is for the dreamers
who first spoke today's clichés
hunched over blank papers
peering into the empty pages
of computer screens like crystal balls
waiting for the spirits to whisper
those who have mostly found truth in sadness
Brooding windows to the soul of the human condition
this is for those navigating silences
who need solitude to breath
who refuse peace and quiet
in the face of injustice
who chose gulags
when the only option of freedom
was in a city under jackboot
those who smuggled out their truths
on toilet paper and wrote back from exile
Telling us There Was a Country
its dream aborted under Half of a Yellow Sun
where would be without the bards
who showed us the Path of Thunder
and unravelled the House of Hunger?
But Weep Not Child, The Beautiful ones Are Not Yet Born
this is for the post - colonial pens
writing rainbows across a dark sky
and eclipsing single stories
Those who pitch their voices against the noise
Frame a new age with language
paint a better world for themselves and for us
given nothing but alphabets
pay no mind to the rumours
the stories are still alive
in books, in bits and bytes
in the conscience of a world dancing
to the rhythm of its own delusions
This, right here, is for the tribe
for those who come out of their heads
to drink at festivals
who still write to convince parents
they can be something better than lawyers
who still write because the urge
is stronger than death
this is for the last ones left
recipients of the torch
pouring sentences to keep the flame burning
those who do this for something
more than prizes
who write past rejection letters
as long as the universe holds
there will be stories to tell
and this is for the tellers
for the chosen and the few
for the trusted and the true
for the howlers at the moon
for those gathered here tonight in this room
my tribe, smile,
this one is for you