GONE, BUT NOT FORGOTTEN, GLADYS MBILLA THE POET EULOGISES ATUKWEI OKAI

GONE, BUT NOT FORGOTTEN


Artistic Legend, Atukwei Okai,
When i hear your name, na ma kai,
Your legacy transcends the hills of Shai,
Like the favour did to Esther by Mordecai.


When I read of the rhythms
From Rosimaya to Lorgoligi logarithms,
It dawns on my little big mental algorithms,
There lived a legend once, in THIS present poetic system.


The moon and the stars may give light,
But when the sun appears, a day takes the place of a night.
YOU, in many of US, opened our poetic sight.
We read and we learned from you with much delight.


Just when I tried to figure out about poetic lightening, then it struck me with much eminence.
Suddenly, I got struck by your deafening silence.
Silence to announce your entrance exit in prominence,
From this part into the other means of existence.


Our bodies raged and our hearts melted,
Many organs of thought haulted,
Like a chief when he abdicates his throne
Yet, we've not forgotten you, albeit you're gone.


You've been the rocky stool
On which the art of word play stood.
But as Shakespeare said
"All the world is a stage,
All the men and women merely players.
They have their exits
And they have their entrances".


You made your entry and you have made your exit,
Leaving behind your indelible footprints,
Printed in our hearts and
On the sands of time.
You are gone, gone, but not forgotten.

Atukwei Okai, live on in eternity,
Atukwei Okai, if you happen
To make your entrance once more,
Do surely enter through this gate you once passed.


Atukwei Okai, the big mahogany TREE,
That stood towering over the African ART field,
Has dully taken a bow,
The tree,  the tree, the tree has fallen.


The calabash from which many drunk
Their local palm wine has split into halves.
Many hearts are burdened,
Many dreams are shattered.

The art of nature has taken its toll on you.
We've lost you but have not forgotten you.
Your roots shall sprout,
Your seeds shall germinate
And your name shall linger on forever in many hearts.


Atukwei Okai, Nante yie.
Agyapa, me ma wo damrifa due.
Due ne amanehunu.
Fare thee well.
Viva, viva, viva,  Legend Atukwei Okai.

Written by;

Mbilla Gladys Alasid.

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