DIRGE: "THE VOYAGE OF OPOLODIWURA"- BY EZEKIEL FAJENYO

( Again for Prof. Biodun Jeyifo)

The gods are strangely silent,

drowsily starring at dark clouds

behind the cloudy rainbow of quiet leaves for the bold baker of their  words

has left the forest of ancient mystery.

The head- shaking gods wet dry earth

with endless rain of tears

unmindful of men's antics of jeremiad.

The gourds- bearing gods checked for stumps of the voyaging iroko,

through potent  herbs of fortune,

questioning sleepy crystal balls of swampy soil ,for fresh  abode of stolen glory.

The green leaves also shed rainfall of tears,

waiting ,indeed waiting for fresh crown of glory

beging flag- lowered rainbow of words

hidden in covens of ancient hills.

The Iroko' s voice is so distant now

yet heard in beloved forests of free minds, pledging someday lousy lunatics,toady

 felons

will no longer inhabit

this land,reshaped!

© EZEKIEL FAJENYO 

12 February, 2026.

- Nigeria 

The poem mourns the symbolic departure of a towering intellectual figure, represented as a voyaging iroko tree, whose absence unsettles both the gods and nature. Through mythic and Yoruba cosmological imagery, the landscape itself grieves, searching spiritually for the lost bearer of wisdom and cultural glory. Yet the poem closes with hope and resistance, envisioning a reshaped land free from corruption and moral decay.