Silent Voices

IPE

39 Budding Talent (In praise of my son’s, Beya’s, first literary venture) A great product The craft of a bud Too tender to believe Could scribble his name A rare display of gift And sure confidence Pitched at towering heights Of creative imagination Such rare gem is Proof that mighty seeds lie Beneath the mind-soils Even of budding talents IPE (In memory of my younger brother, Inyang Peter Effiong (IPE) who left this earth in 2005) A name hailed From dawn to dusk At every nook and corner Where tread your feet. IPE! IPE! IPE! Hailing floating From towering trees Stooping shrubs Sprawling herbs Praising your rare gem 40 Displayed at first signs In cascades It was such pride to note My womb-mate Who saw the earthen light after me Was poised to make an ascent To mountaintop reserved for stars, Where every eye could see And acknowledge A rare Korup seed was born. Twisted went the story soon To circumvent Every move you made, Every step to succeed, Every effort to defend a people, A tribe barren like desert Bogged down you were By spells from unknown force Talent-corroding moments, Twister of great stories. Started it was like joke After your mystery swim in River Ikpan, Where beneath the bed Into a city you emerged, Encountering faces Of men, women and children, People you knew so well 41 Though your life they spared at that instant To beguile their intent to destroy Plunged you they did into eddy of psychosis Where, for many years, you swam In fitful display of tumultuous rage. This you hid from me; Stories I got you were Great disturber of peace, Rained abuses and insults, Destroyed property from home to home. In return received you in scores Heavy, savage battering on every psychic fit From the very ones that hailed you IPE, Pushed by those whose names you revealed After that underwater experience? Very likely, that’s the fact. And now you lie still, Six feet below their feet, Doing nothing to avenge? Thought of that More painful than your exit story! ...