The Sorrow Night Songs [Poetry]

A VOICE IN SOYINKA

I am the birth,
Who was born first,
And dead next before my birth.
Even on the journey to die,
I read death alive,
From NoonMoon. Sunset and journey over.

I am the man
Who lost his wife—married her
To see how his children will be,
Fair or Unfair.

I am the man who speaks,
To the deaf,
Through the depth of his heart,
He hears and walk away free.

I am the man,
Yes, I am the man,
But if only I will fall into ashes
Rise and be a man no more,
I would be glad to get lost forever.
And still be the man.

I am the man you broke,
The one the street scolded,
And folded into the folders of tomorrow,
Forgetting,
That I was born before today!

I am the man,
Who spoke liberty through
the horns—shaded the white gods black,
Then locked up in shackles
But passed away to write
my death notes.

I am Akinwande Oluwole
Babatunde Soyinka,
I am the voice of poetry,
The strings of words
the hope of future,
And the man who set forth at dawn, Both in Africa and the place yet to come.