GOD’S NECTAR (AN ELEGY FOR DR MRS NANA AMA POKUAA ARTHUR)

Where do sweet souls thread to be fed to death in their young?
Which lyrics do songsters string in their sheds to build sorrowful songs?
What mood is this which hangs a poet in numbness for this long?
Why do some builders taste not the shade of their hardwork?
Who chaperones the vehicle of death?
I need to know
I so need to know

II
I need to know why my arm has been cut off
When I need both to wash in life!
I need to know why my eyes are pooled in seas
When they should be fast asleep in re-energizing its vision
I need to know why my heart feels this empty
When it should be full of hope to cope
I need to know why this night seems so long
When it sure is just beginning
I need to know why this dumsor in Sagnarigu is rhyming with my soul
Which wants to hide away in its suitcase
I need to know why
…why I’m left in this dark place on such a sunny journey
Why didn’t any god or goddess tell me
…that many a dark hide under the promising sun?

III
That sweet voice
That affable personality
That approachable body
Those understanding nods
That knowledgeable head
That hailing spirit
That can-do push
That sweet mother
That gentle wife
That loving sister
That filial daughter
That impactful teacher
That guide…
All gone in just a stop of breath in one body!
Death sure knows how to steal the precious!

IV
So I will never get to drag you through a yellow yellow on the streets of Tamale
…for the second time?
I will never get to whine at your piled editing citing my busy schedule?
I will never get to see that precious and welcoming smile accompanied by my customized name?
I will never get another royal ride to any of my launches again?
I will never get to pick, dodge or chase your calls
…again?
I will never hear
“You’re a great great person
One I’m glad to call my daughter”
And your push for God
…again?
You’ve broken my soul with a bye not long from a hi
But I’d like to think of you as God’s nectar
One an angel has turned bird to fetch to his glory
Still it murders my soul

V
But what can I do?
I am no mystery to fight that death
I am no spirit to return your soul
I am no magician to chant back your breath
This sorrow cuts deep with thoughts of Odehyeɛ and Baffour
How can your husband sleep these nights?
How can your parents survive this?
What will you have your friends do?
How can we live without you?

VI
You sure will be a guard
But this pierces deep and slaughters sleep!
You sure will be a moon
But this darkens a world as hearts are being boiled
…in the hurts of loss!
Damirifa due through our tears which will never dry!
Da yie o!
Even as sleeplessness evades our space!
You knew we loved you
…and it showed
As everything you lived for wrote love in hearts
Since death remains a beginner’s end
We shall meet
We surely shall meet
As we journey through this horror of your gone
…to a future of pairing
Amoafowaa Sefa Cecilia @ May 10, 2021 in memory of one of the greatest pillars of my life: Dr Mrs Nana Ama Pokuaa-Arthur