In the plains lands of Amanze on the bush path to oshimiri forest where the sun never penetrates the thickness of the forest, the marshy lands gives way to water when the naked feet of travellers thread on wet ground and the tiny path filled with shrubs makes ominous noises when the limbs grazes past them, you can hear the African owls peeping from the comforting shades of the palm tree. Approaching the gushing of freshness on the path to the stream there's a right ooze of life scents from the lapping of the gently water dripping.
In the caves of the Amanze forests lived a songstress she was dressed in raffia clothings, amulets dangling on her feet and her arms, her eyes are bloodshot with nzu (white chalk) she was towering, her figure was nearly matching the gait of the iroko tree but she was thin, her breasts were lean and piercings covered it apparently the markings of the asa gods to show she was the daughter of the tree and snake gods. She spoke mainly the eastern language of the igbo tribes but above all she was pretty as the papando (the moon) and graceful as the anyanwu ututo (morning sunshine) the dirt on her eyebrow made it difficult to tell her age the wrinkles on her neck were because of the distance she let's her heavenly voice travels anytime she serenade Amanze village in the rising mornings.
She was called Nkemji nwanyi egwu which interpretes the songstress legend has it that she was the intermediate seer of the village heads and she consults the gods by singing songs.
One a particular period when the gods forsaked the Amaze people, the rain ceased to fall, crops died and hailstorm descended on the nkwo (the wine palm tree) first born children died mysterious deaths and the villager of Amanze was thrown into mourning, but then the songstress went to to the Aka nmuo (the land of the dead) which was also where troubled spirits resides, here, she could gain total access to the gods. She rendered a poetic piece to the gods. It was a dirge and she sung ceaselessly for three hours exposing herself to the wolves and the panther in the glade where no living man dare thread. And she rendered;
Our voices are ladden with sorrow,
the spirit lands have I sought,
flying palm vines, wrapped in laced arrows
the death shrills in the palm huts,
are like the echoes of wailing souls in Hades,
We beseech you, the goat bloods do we bring,
the shaky sounds of pain in my voice do I offer
Hear me omnipresent ones,
Shall the corn curbs die still?
The creeping adder bites the bladder
the fiery thunders rips our homes asunder
We wake to gloomy mornings with monsters in the sleep,
We walk daylight with weariness in our wake,
watching the blood moon ooze pain in our fate,
are we sealed, cancerous tumors unable to be healed?
Shall the corn curbs die still?
The green lands are now impotents,
the yams penetrates the soils but we reap maggots,
we're freightened abbots
seeking the seeing faces of the tarots
but we're blind in our souls, empty in our minds,
We're famished and left to rot away,
like spoilt morsels in the mortars,
shall the corn curbs die still?
The wolves in the glade are prancing,
dancing with the thoughts of flesh food,
but we're mushroom in the wood,
patched up for the canker worms to feed on,
we beesech your mercy, oh lords of the sun,
Shall the corn curbs die still?
PIECE SETTING: EASTERN NIGERIA, WEST AFRICA
This is a creative piece (Prose & Poetry) Speaks about the rich heritage of the eastern Nigerian culture in West Africa prior to the colonialist advent in western Africa The prose made headway for the poetry and it uses a pure imaginative pattern to birth both pieces.
The piece speaks about the song of a songstress it narrates her influence on a people who worship the sun god and other god. The poem describes the dependability of these people on this god who allegedly offers them protection, blesses their crops and enrich
their children.
In return they pay homage to this god and worship it, in annual rituals, fetish appeasing and blood sacrifices.
The. Songstress was the link between the people and this god, her duty was to sing beautiful songs as this was the only way to connect in their realms on behalf of the people.
However things went awry when this god forsaked the people and they went through plagues and disaster, this poem rendered by the songstress was a way through which she appeased and pleaded to the god to replenish the people and bless them once again.
"Steemian Mantra"
JOSEPH C.IKECHUKWU
