The old order changeth, yielding place to the new And God fulfils Himself in many ways, Lest one good custom should corrupt the world Comfort thyself: what is comfort to me? I have lived my life, and that which I have done May He within Himself make pure! But thou If thou shouldst never see my face again, Pray for my soul. More things are wrought by prayer Than this world dreams of. Wherefore, let thy voice Rise like a fountain for me night and day. For what are men better than sheep or goats That nourish a blind life within the brain, If, knowing God, they lift not hands of prayer Both for themselves and those who call them friend? For so the whole round earth is every way Bound by gold chains about the feet of God. But now farewell. I am going a long way With these thou seest-if indeed I go- (for my mind is clouded with a doubt) To the island-valley of Avilion Where falls not hail, or rain, or any snow, Nor ever wind blows loudly; but it lies Deep-meadow'd, happy, fair with orchard-lawns And bowery hollows crown'd with summer sea, Where I will heal me of my grievious wound.
+++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ ~ from Morte D'Arthur by Alfred Tennyson
Dedicated to all the innocent and precious souls who vanished in the wreckage while going about their innocent business in the September 11 tragedy.
"To LIVE in the hearts of those you love is NOT to die"
___________________ Awo's political idea was based on the assumption that any town beyond Owo was Igbo or Hausa. Awo was not socialised; he was not a good mixer because he did not have the opportunity, which the secondary school offered. ~TOS Benson, Baba Oba of Lagos
Hubristic and lustic Al(a)uko Oh! How I miss you cockatoo Your gregarious ubiquity in cyber You gabby one of gamji.com Whither your loquacity at Kwenu? Our 'technical' lecturer on Colanut
What a sorry lesson you have become Of goodwill squandered, welcome slighted Yet before Ikpatt pulls the hankie Let it be said that it was hubris that made you so For it got to your head that you had friends at BN
For your sake Folanke slighted Egbeomo.com Onabanjo will have you as a model for Onuegbe And Amanda recorded you as entertaining Remember Ambrose saluted you as "oga" But what did you give them in return?
With your Enahoro doctrine you're an expert on Biafra From your Nadeco bombing experience, Ogbunigwe was crap And Nwa Aro, a German Engineer is Ogbeteic Our parents live in caves while yours perch the rocks of Aso Folanke can't spell her name and Amanda is scum and caricature
Hate to say I told you, But had it coming Biafrans don't joke with Biafra, and suffer none that does Son, you dug the pit so, fall in it, bury in it Perchance you'd sprout if like mushroom you'd be If you do, then by all means alter your mien From hubris, migrate to humble Until then, may your cyber-soul rust in pieces!
Adieu hubristic, lustic Al(a)uko!
Dedicated to the best friend we NEVERhad.
___________________ Awo's political idea was based on the assumption that any town beyond Owo was Igbo or Hausa. Awo was not socialised; he was not a good mixer because he did not have the opportunity, which the secondary school offered. ~TOS Benson, Baba Oba of Lagos
I dance all her dances - Joyful and painful; And I feel very proud For they make me The centre of attraction
But some may think I'm a woman Because I rock my hips To everyone's delight For that reason, I dance the Bende war dance Let them see the awesome Vibrations of a man's breasts
Ready for action! See my machete! See the heads on my head!
'Cause men have made me to shake I dance in fury And close my mouth with frond This is not time to talk: To plead; To ask Or wait to hear your word
My blood is boiling hot It boils so hot; It is time to act. Ala-Igbo! Obodo dike! Eke n'egwurugwu! It is you I dance.
~ from I dance Ala-Igbo by Chikwendu Paschal Kizito Anyanwu(Rev'd)
To all my fellow Biafran cyber-warriors
"The struggle continues......the battle field has changed.....Long live Biafra."
___________________ Awo's political idea was based on the assumption that any town beyond Owo was Igbo or Hausa. Awo was not socialised; he was not a good mixer because he did not have the opportunity, which the secondary school offered. ~TOS Benson, Baba Oba of Lagos
If you can keep your head when all about you .. Are losing theirs and blaming it on you; If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you, .. But make allowance for their doubting too; If you can wait and not be tired by waiting, .. Or, being lied about, don't deal in lies, Or, being hated, don't give way to hating, .. And yet don't look too good, nor talk to wise;
If you can dream - and not make dreams your master; If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim; If you can meet with triumph and distaster .. And treat those two impostors just the same; If you can bear to hear the truth you' ve spoken .. Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools, Or watch the things you gave your life to broken, .. And stoop, and build 'em up with worn-out tools;
If you can make one heap of all your winnings .. And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss, And lose, and start again at your beginnings .. And never breathe a word about your loss; If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew .. To serve your turn long after they are gone, And so hold on when there is nothing in you .. Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on!"
If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue, .. Or walk with kings - nor lose the common touch; If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you; .. If all men count with you, but none too much; If you can fill the unforgiving minute .. With sixty seconds' worth of distance run Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it, .. And - which is more - you'll be grown up my child!
~~Rudyard Kipling (1865 to 1936)
To all my Biafran friends who feel like giving up.....hey, you are more than what you have become!
___________________ Awo's political idea was based on the assumption that any town beyond Owo was Igbo or Hausa. Awo was not socialised; he was not a good mixer because he did not have the opportunity, which the secondary school offered. ~TOS Benson, Baba Oba of Lagos
Ogoni is the land The people, Ogoni The agony of trees dying In ancestral farmlands Streams polluted weeping Filth into murky rivers It is the poisoned air Coursing the luckless lungs Of dying children Ogoni is the dream Breaking the looping chain Around the drooping neck of a shell-shocked land..
~~(Ken Saro-Wiwa)
To all our friends who have resolved to say NO to Nigeria.
___________________ Awo's political idea was based on the assumption that any town beyond Owo was Igbo or Hausa. Awo was not socialised; he was not a good mixer because he did not have the opportunity, which the secondary school offered. ~TOS Benson, Baba Oba of Lagos
The land whose stern warriors were true to the core,
While bleeding for freedom of yore.
+ + + +++ +++
Chorus:
Wales! Wales! fav'rite land of Wales!
While sea her wall, may naught befall
To mar the old language of Wales.
+++ +++++ ++++
Old mountainous Cambria, the Eden of bards,
Each hill and each valley excite my regards;
To the ears of her patriots how charming still seems
The music that flows in her streams.
+++ +++++ ++++
My country tho' crushed by a hostile array,
The language of Cambria lives on to this day;
The muse has eluded the traitors' foul knives,
The harp of my country survives.
+++ ++++ +++++
~~Hen Wlad fy Nhadau (Land of my fathers) , The Welsh National Anthem
___________________ Awo's political idea was based on the assumption that any town beyond Owo was Igbo or Hausa. Awo was not socialised; he was not a good mixer because he did not have the opportunity, which the secondary school offered. ~TOS Benson, Baba Oba of Lagos
When you walk through a storm, Hold your head up high, And don't be afraid of the dark At the end of a storm, There's a golden sky, And the sweet silver song of a lark. Walk on through the wind, Walk on through the rain, Though your dreams be tossed and blown.. Walk on, walk on, with hope in your heart, And you'll never walk alone... Walk on, walk on, with hope in your heart, And you'll never walk alone... You'll never walk alone.
~~ Liverpool Football Club Anthem
Dedicated to Luciano Pavarotti who lost his old mum very recently. The three tenors did this song at France '98.
___________________ Awo's political idea was based on the assumption that any town beyond Owo was Igbo or Hausa. Awo was not socialised; he was not a good mixer because he did not have the opportunity, which the secondary school offered. ~TOS Benson, Baba Oba of Lagos
A fool I was to sleep at noon, And wake when night is chilly Beneath the comfortless cold moon; A fool to pluck my rose too soon, A fool to snap my lily.
My garden-plot I have not kept; Faded and all-forsaken, I weep as I have never wept: Oh it was summer when I slept, It's winter now I waken.
Talk what you please of future spring And sun-warm'd sweet to-morrow— Stripp'd bare of hope and everything, No more to laugh, no more to sing, I sit alone with sorrow.
~~ Christina Rossetti (1830-1894)
___________________ Awo's political idea was based on the assumption that any town beyond Owo was Igbo or Hausa. Awo was not socialised; he was not a good mixer because he did not have the opportunity, which the secondary school offered. ~TOS Benson, Baba Oba of Lagos Posts: 2644 | From: United Kingdom | Registered: Apr 2001
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WHEN we as strangers sought Their catering care, Veiled smiles bespoke their thought Of what we were. They warmed as they opined Us more than friends- That we had all resigned For love's dear ends.
And that swift sympathy With living love Which quicks the world-maybe The spheres above, Made them our ministers, Moved them to say, "Ah, God, that bliss like theirs Would flush our day!"
And we were left alone As Love's own pair; Yet never the love-light shone Between us there! But that which chilled the breath Of afternoon, And palsied unto death The pane-fly's tune.
The kiss their zeal foretold, And now deemed come, Came not: within his hold Love lingered numb. Why cast he on our port A bloom not ours? Why shaped us for his sport In after-hours?
As we seemed we were not That day afar, And now we seem not what We aching are. O severing sea and land, O laws of men, Ere death, once let us stand As we stood then!
Thomas Hardy (1840-1928)
___________________ Forward ever, backward never! Posts: 1874 | From: USA | Registered: Mar 2001
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The hot midday air is heavy with red dust raised by hundreds of feet: Dust mixed with the rich aroma of sweat And the fragrant vapor rising From large pots of palm wine. Several young, robust men in short, Coarsely woven blue loin cloths Begin to move into the center Of the large clearing In front of the village meeting house. Their muscular arms are draped With the long hair of ram's manes, And on their heads are red, Black and white knit caps Known as leopard hats, Each pierced with an eagle feather. They move with confidence and pride But their leader seems even more imposing; Balanced on his head is a board Upon which human heads sculpted of wood are displayed. The heads, like the dancers are flanked with ram's mane.
The music is fast, driving, insistent. The dancers are joined by other men, Some mature, some mere boys. Each moves his feet in a rapid side-stepping pattern. They roll their shoulders in tight circles Causing their chest muscles to flex rapidly. Gradually, deliberately, the tempo builds. As the pace of the music increases The pectoral flexing accelerates. The men's chests pulsate with rippling undulations. This is ofufu. As one man puts it: "when the music takes fire to the dance, the flesh melts."
As the akwatankwa play the drum calls men to action: "Agwo ntu no akarika! " "There is a dangerous snake in the grass!" This is a warning, a call to arms, A summons to dance, to be courageous And to come prepared for action. The drum and the horn were battlefield Instruments used to communicate during raids. Many of the calls these instruments produce Are traditional alarms and commands And they bring the tension And immediacy of actual battle to the mood of the dance. The drum also plays the dance rhythm, Fitting its tones tightly within the fast paced time-line. The drummer sings a high pitched note interjected Sporadically throughout the performance Which further increases the fervent tone of the event. The ensemble is small, the sound "hot," and aggressive.
___________________ Awo's political idea was based on the assumption that any town beyond Owo was Igbo or Hausa. Awo was not socialised; he was not a good mixer because he did not have the opportunity, which the secondary school offered. ~TOS Benson, Baba Oba of Lagos Posts: 2644 | From: United Kingdom | Registered: Apr 2001
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posted
Eritrea...your children are not your children
Eritrea...your children are not your children** they are the sons and daughters of life's longing for itself they come through you, Eritrea, but not from you, and though they are with you, Eritrea, yet they belong not to you.
Eritrea, you may give them your love but not your thoughts for they have their own thoughts
Eritrea, you may house their bodies but not their souls, for their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow, which you Eritrea, cannot visit, not even in your dreams
Eritrea, you may strive to be like them, but seek not to make them like you for life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday.
Eritrea, you are the bow from which your children as living arrows are sent forth. in life's beauty and awareness
-Feven afewerki **An Eritrean version of Khalil Gibran’s poem "Children"**
___________________ Awo's political idea was based on the assumption that any town beyond Owo was Igbo or Hausa. Awo was not socialised; he was not a good mixer because he did not have the opportunity, which the secondary school offered. ~TOS Benson, Baba Oba of Lagos Posts: 2644 | From: United Kingdom | Registered: Apr 2001
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posted
Land of the morning Child of the sun returning With fervor burning Thee do our souls adore.
Land dear and holy, Cradle of noble heroes, Ne'er shall invaders Trample thy sacred shores.
Ever within thy skies and through thy clouds And o'er thy hills and seas; Do we behold thy radiance, feel the throb Of glorious liberty.
Thy banner dear to all hearts Its sun and stars alright, Oh, never shall its shining fields Be dimmed by tyrants might.
Beautiful land of love, oh land of light, In thine embrace 'tis rapture to lie; But it is glory ever when thou art wronged For us thy sons to suffer and die.
~~ National Anthem of the philippines!
___________________ Awo's political idea was based on the assumption that any town beyond Owo was Igbo or Hausa. Awo was not socialised; he was not a good mixer because he did not have the opportunity, which the secondary school offered. ~TOS Benson, Baba Oba of Lagos Posts: 2644 | From: United Kingdom | Registered: Apr 2001
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I�m the woman who has awoken I�ve arisen and become a tempest through the ashes of my burnt children I�ve arisen from the rivulets of my brother�s blood My nation�s wrath has empowered me My ruined and burnt villages fill me with hatred against the enemy, I�m the woman who has awoken, I�ve found my path and will never return. I�ve opened closed doors of ignorance I�ve said farewell to all golden bracelets Oh compatriot, I�m not what I was I�m the woman who has awoken I�ve found my path and will never return. I�ve seen barefoot, wandering and homeless children I�ve seen henna-handed brides with mourning clothes I�ve seen giant walls of the prisons swallow freedom in their ravenous stomach I�ve been reborn amidst epics of resistance and courage I�ve learned the song of freedom in the last breaths, in the waves of blood and in victory Oh compatriot, Oh brother, no longer regard me as weak and incapable With all my strength I�m with you on the path of my land�s liberation. My voice has mingled with thousands of arisen women My fists are clenched with the fists of thousands compatriots Along with you I�ve stepped up to the path of my nation, To break all these sufferings all these fetters of slavery, Oh compatriot, Oh brother, I�m not what I was I�m the woman who has awoken I�ve found my path and will never return.
inspiring poem by Meena, an Afghan Woman!
Biography
___________________ Awo's political idea was based on the assumption that any town beyond Owo was Igbo or Hausa. Awo was not socialised; he was not a good mixer because he did not have the opportunity, which the secondary school offered. ~TOS Benson, Baba Oba of Lagos Posts: 2644 | From: United Kingdom | Registered: Apr 2001
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