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| Fredua-Agyeman Nana |
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Chapter #: 4
Updated On: 02 January 2008 - Words Count: 832 - Number of Reads: 264 |
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The Lesson of Life
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Fear of unknown magnitude engulfed me
Scraping my skin to its nervy-endings
Awakening the reality in me:
The Lesson of Life II
ERE THE JOURNEY BEGAN
Many an innumerable time
Was I told of the clime-
Of the ways of many a man
But of none, ere now, I larn!
Naught of man did I know
And more still I, inadvertently, let go!
I, like winnowed chaff,
Act in likeness of a smoke-puff:
As chaffs in haphazard flight
Or as the wind blows a sprite;
My ways, moved by words
Empty of sorrow and worst;
Then came a day to change all me,
My guardian called me to journey
A command blurted he!
As it always must be
Of ev’ry first son beget
His father he must not pet:
“Make ready a mare
Of good bred and care
For mounting now”, he so said;
A strong mare I watered, fed
And saddled in her best reins
For being fav’rite, must endure no pains-
So her harness was softer as floss,
Softer than dews on the morn moss.
Dressed as one of steed
She was in no real need!
The Horse
The journey was to be made on my mare
One that has exquisite beauty in my care-
Its beauty, clearer than spring
And its eyes with beauty sting.
She was my much-adored horse
For the routes of the dell are her course-
None does she not know
And none could she not go!
For within the dell I do stroll
With a meditative lyre to roll.
She was an horse of brown
Thin white stripes on her down;
Deeply set are her two-eyes
(The colour of freshly-cut rice)
That is always slightly squint
With a fluffy eyelash as of lint;
Her stout feet had endings white
And hooves that blinked black in plain light.
The Journey Began
So began the journey when the horse
Cantered slowly along a chosen course
With my guardian in moody walk
Head-bowed; neither of us did talk.
This silence we carried for a mile
Through the dell as we while
Away some moments of time;
Busying my mind, I recited a rhyme
To me taught, when I was but a kid,
By a nurse, in verses very vivid.
Walking and cantering came we by a man
Who spoke as immediately as his lips can
For we unexpected it at that moment
As we un-exchanged signs of acknowledgement:
“Hei lad do you not have respect?
Galloping for whom your granny to protect?”
By his words I felt ashamed,
I stopped for him: myself I blamed;
All the same the end seemed not nigh
Through the thicket with tired thighs we sigh;
All this while my mare led the way
So I thought we might be going astray
And just as I was about to inquire
The need of our walk at this hour,
A hunter slid into our sight
And his mind he offered in quiet-
These he said to us: to him more:
“As heartless as heartless could e’er bore,
What has this kid done wrong?
You can walk! Sure you are strong!”
We looked at each other
And decided, speechlessly, to walk together
Whilst the saddled mare, stronger though,
Paced by our side with whining low,
The next few hours saw us wandering still
Passing by many a vale and hill
And rounding a craggy one by its base
We nearly went a-falling in the hazy maze.
From nowhere known
Stood before us lone
An elderly palm-wine tapper,
In our plight we wished him a helper
But he passed by, turning only to comment:
“This horse would avoid any fatal accident.
It is stronger enough to carry you two.”
He spoke, I noticed, about the same issue.
From his ‘wisdom’ we both did climb
Allowing our pain-limbs to sublime.
Still further we journeyed
Still more I understood not the need:
Darkness had fallen
And danger was calling,
Then a weird farmer we met
For he was really queer: bulkily set!
Horrible to peep, I began to shiver
And beads of sweat drizzled like river,
He thundered
And I shuddered:
“Why, do you want to kill this pony?
Can you not see it is tired, this thing bony?”
The Lesson
My guardian shouted at that moment:
“Behold the lesson of life have you learnt,
And the nature of man I give you!
All you need in life have I taught you,
To be a man of his own will
And not to disciple others still.”
At that instant the purpose of the journey
Dawned on me-
For many a time, presently past,
I followed my friends- just and unjust
To all places their lips
Could utter without skips!
Perfect follower was I
But I beheld the truth of life beneath my eye
And having learnt this and more
I made my will my law! |
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LITERARY 
