With clasped hands lain upon the head
We wear a countenance contorted
Not as in a scowl of the hotheaded
Nor as in a smirk of the self-conceited
Whose grin holds some fellow in ridicule
We bear a grimace of anguished resignation
We lift our shrunken voices, and hum
A mournful melody at a hushed gathering
Alas, a sing-along of a gathering in anguish,
Subdued into a look of unspeakable solemnity
Now and again, a stranger hugs a stranger
Yet nothing here bespeaks of the strange
Nor that so strange as to stun the bystander
Save the energy of death enervating the living
Two strangers embrace at a hushed gathering
Not as in a lovers’ embrace at the boudoir
United in grief; theirs, a bear hug of a balm
That soothes the sting and raw sore of sorrow,
Of a sudden estrangement that forever tears
Away the loved one from his loved ones
Alas, all shall depart life into dirt, and the inert
Furrows on the face can’t an overflow of tears bear
Even as the heart bleeds to ease the pain of a loss
Bleeding is the ooze that cleanses the heart of goo
Of hurt, harm, and hate hidden and roiling within
So we forgive an animus harbored towards a foe
So we let go the hurt a pastor’s sermon couldn’t heal
Nothing here is so strange as to stun the bystander
Save the energy of death enervating the living
When we see what we need or wish to see
When we hear what we need or wish to hear
When we have our say of what we need or wish to say
When we face the facts and fantasies of a fleeting life
We do what we do not to outdo or to undo death
Lest we do the impossible, or we do the insane
In glee and in grief, one another we ought to embrace
Roland O. Akosah
July 21, 2018, Accra
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