A homage to the Kongi from the Creeks of the Niger Delta

Oooo a kule mo! Nua! - We salute you!

We greet you from the land of Benikuru kuru,

From where Egbesu and Adegbe ride astride giant war canoes.. mocking petulant waves..

We salute you from the land of mortals who bore names like Adaka Boro and Saro Wiwa..men who make us tearful with pride..

You have a lot of names they say..

but here where the Sombrero river strolls to meet the great oceans ..we call you Ogoun bebe – the edge of the axe.

Here, where once, fishes, some with voices clearer than birdsong – salute the dawn..

We call you Ogu tobou – the child of the iron.

O bebe yere – for if they will not hear our whisper they will hear your voice.

Owei fa – Fear nothing..beat your cheat and stroke your wise beard, stride our land and all lands and tell them …

that we thank you o..our land the Niger Delta is silent now, the belly echoes of the AKs, and the thunderclap of molten bombs replaced by this silence…

this glorious silence broken only by the hiss of the Gas flares ..like dragons spitting fire

from the belly of the earth….tell them that our land weeps and the creeks are murky with the stain..borne by these evil oil people

Tell them that our children should be at school now, or at their work places pondering

life's questions not draping bullets across angry chests.

They should be healers and makers of things, not toting weapons of

death…they should like you be weavers of tales.

We are the dwellers of the swamp, the people of the creeks,

those forgotten amidst the mangroves forest and the shores of the River Nun.

We dance unsteady on land, our legs are those of the river.. her ebb and her flow – our life.

As the Waantam masquerade raises his head high, arms aloft calling on all that is good and true, to rise,

You should rise with your nimble feet, sail with greatness and dance with kings and queens.

You are Tarilah.. – one who is worth of being loved!

Mere greetings on this your birthday, will not suffice, presents given with a weak hand and even weaker hearts will not do.

From the depths of our soul, where the true water spirits reside,

the spirits that found us, that bade us custodians of these glories creeks – this Niger Delta.…we salute you – Ogu teme – the iron spirit.

Once we heard of hunger only from distant lands,

the leaves of our cocoyams were like ears of elephants,

plantains grew and bore fruit of their own accord and

fish frolicked freely in the clearest waters.

Now great beard, the blackest waters greet the fisherman,

cocoyams rot in the mire..amidst creeks dead to all time..

and our hunger knows no end.

Today, on this day of your birth, let all our spirits greet the one that we call Ogoun bebe –

Those that reside in the depths of the sea, that lie in the plantain groves and the

ones that nestles with eagles in the forest canopy.

Let us mere mortals too salute you, we are the people of Ijaw,

from Arugbo across Opobo to the brooks of ibom.

We salute you - Ogu teme, the Iron spirit.

May your days be long.

deinbofa ere.

19/07/2010