Death is indeed a wicked hydra-headed monster.
So the caged bird could no longer sing again.
Who clipped the bird’s wings?
Who plucked away our beautiful flower?
Our legendary bird has just vanished to sing with the angels.
Maya Angelou is dead! Tell me it is a dream.
A tall dream, as tall as Eiffel tower in Paris.
A dream, as tall as Cocoa House in Ibadan.
Tell me it is just a ‘beer parlour’ gossip.
Tell me it is just a film trick.
Don’t let me weep ‘bucket of tears’ for Maya.
Maya, freedom fighter and voice of the oppressed voiceless.
Maya, you inspired millions of people from every corner of the globe.
What did death whisper to your right ear till the monster dragged you away?
Sweet nothing? Hocus pocus gibberish? Farewell messages?
Death cannot kill a Legend.
Maya, you’re just in transit to the ‘other side’.
Maya, the teacher, the poet, the dramatist and the journalist,
Maya, the activist, the pen-technocrat and the author.
Brother Malcolm X and Martin Luther King shall be so happy to embrace you.
Mama Maya, move from earth to earth and to the deepest of the earth.
We (your ideological children) shall continue to weave consoling words into garlands in order to have enough wreaths on your tomb stone.
Goodbye Maya Angelou, you’re free at last. Free at last!
You’re free from racism and discriminations of this world.
You’re free from weaving your exotic words into poetry.
May your road not be too rough at the ‘other side’.
Rest in peace Maya Angelou. Goodnight MA.
(Composed & written by Dare Lasisi)
