Ariadne’s Notes: Here is a wonderful tribute to Muhammad Ali by our World Poetry Theatre Ambassador Oswald Okaitei who is an inspiration for us all!
*** Watch “”The Eighth Ode To Ali” by Oswald Okaitei for Muhammad Ali” on YouTube
Also this poem was read on the World Poetry Café Radio Show.
Tenth Ode for Muhammad Ali
In a united spirit,
We mourn the darkness in the sun
And cease the feet
Of the dancers and beating palms of the drummers…
In a spirited oneness,
We have sworn before your withered dust
Never to tear
But to inherit your bravery over fear
Yes, you injured the rock,
Diseased the medicine, floated like a butterfly
And stung like the bee…
So hero! Must we mourn your passage into the next world?
No!
We shall not!
Let the Praise Singers
Gather by the edges of the golden streets
And the horn blowers
Kiss their horns: we shall hail the ‘Greatest’ before his leave today!
(Warrior song)
O’ Everest!
The ever ‘greatest’ of our times!
You have crossed the sun
And left your darkness in its ever shinning shine:
Indeed,
The sun even confesses your Greatness!
Alas, Bomaye!
Kill death and rise again in the new world
Where you traverse to!
And when you are there, let them too know that still, you are the Greatest!
Oswald Okaitei
(c) 2016
Oswald Okaitei is a multi-international award winning poet from Ghana. He is one of the fresh breath to poetry and Spoken word world wide. As the World Poetry Theatre Ambassador from Ghana and World Poetry Director from Ghana, he has collaborated with other poets, especially Prof. LadeWosornu (an astute Surgeon and poet) to bring life to poetry in Ghana by staging poetry worksin the look of stage drama in recent times. Oswald has five poetry anthologies to his credit, written, directed and produced quite a number of plays including IN THE BAG OF A WOMAN, BEAUTYFUL NONSENSE and IN MAN’S LIBIDO, performed on several platforms-international and national. Oswald is a prolific writer and an artistic creator.
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Great work done Oswald, keep your dream alive. Congrats.
Lovely Piece.
Awesome read… powerful… applause…. on my feet in awe… well done..
Well crafted.