Emeka Nwakobi
Dennis Osadebay rolls out the ancient drums, and beats it better than the best, in this poem swelling with bridges and confidence that can only be the child of experience.
The poem resonates with a superb theme of hope and one can say, Osadebay’s object to resurrect/revive dry bones, open up the brighter side of lie, was indeed achieved. He opens up the poem with rhetoric, the same tone runs though the subsequent stanzas, and during this great transit one was held spellbound. The poet began thus;
Is thy weather rough and cruel,
Charged with thunder, dark and cold?
Does thy fire lack fuel
To thy heart great misery hold?
Look around, O woman’s born,
Full many a soul by sorrow torn
From happiness and heaven’s door
Is worse than thou on Fortune’s floor
In the above stanza, the poet writes to the mass of people with dying embers, who are going through tough times; roughened by life, bruised by the many shenanigans life throws at us. He says to people who find themselves in conditions as these, to find courage/hope in the condition of others around them, whose conditions are obviously worse than theirs. Osadebay delves further in this journey of recovery thus;
Dost thou lack wherewithal
To keep thy soul and body one?
Dost thou still bemoan thy fall
And think thy weary self undone?
Think again, O mortal man,
And know that since this world began
Men and stars have fallen low
And living things ceased to grow
The poet writes again about the universality of lack, of human suffering. He reminds those who find themselves in unpleasant conditions, in conditions where they are unable to completely have the things they want, they are not alone in the struggle, it has been on from time immemorial.
The tone of the poem changes slightly in the final stanza. The poet turns around and addresses those who are well to do, more fortunate in the affairs of life than others. He says to them who have been able to conquer all the vices, and have successfully dodged all the spears thrown at them by life, to remember the less privileged, those who are not so strong or fortunate. He says to them; give a hand to as much people as you can. He writes thus;
Art thou full of wealth and life,
Smiled upon by Fortune Fair?
Does thy strength overcome all strife?
Is thy learning great and rare?
Thou art not the first to gain
Health or wealth or power or brain
Help thy neighbour rise to-day;
Thou art only dust and clay
Dennis Chukude Osadebay (29 June 1911—26 December 1994) was a Nigerian politician, poet, journalist and former premier of the now defunct Mid-Western Region of Nigeria, which now comprises Edo and Delta State. He was one of the pioneering Nigerian poets who wrote in English.
