NO SWEETNESS HERE (For Ama Ata Aidoo)

Ia
There is no sweetness in your gone
Even considering all that you’ve done
From the day your ink was born
…to death’s fierce con
I stand at the same place of your confused ghost
To ask if I should call your name in thanks on the coast
…or through land’s queer host
And I sigh

Ib
Remembering Anowa
Throws showers on Our Sister Killjoy
Showing clearly the Changes
And the Dilemma of you as a Ghost
Oh I dislike this emotional exchanges
Which make human end sand’s toy
Causing a deep deep fear
There sure is No Sweetness Here

II
But you lived above death
The moment your thoughts through your ink gave birth
You lived above oblivion’s wealth
Making solid your name’s great health
In a forever that assumptions can’t erase
And history, no matter how dense can’t faze
That in itself is a consolation
So I stand on authority and the power you wielded
I stand on the great truths you never shielded
To wish you well in your final walk
The walk which in itself is a great talk
To hearts filled with words, words which minds stalk
To wake with wisdom and write with working weight

IIb
So like the dove which baptizes from above
Go safely in love
Knowing many hearts stand in ovation
At how well you lived
How fierce you lived
And how brave you were
Being a trailblazer in many a writing feat
Sharing words of your time with the world we all share
Odehye kronkron, da yie!
Ya ne oya wɔ odjogbang
Hedenyuie
Till we meet as earth’s sands
In the afterlife filled with unknown myths
Amoafowaa Sefa Cecilia © May 31, 2023