Ugorji Ugorji
Steeped in divinity,
she gives life like Ani.
Like twin dark emeralds,
her pupils reflect historical memories.
Her swaggering hips,
announce the confluence of the great rivers.
Her legs, like the bamboo,
exude strength beyond comprehension.
When she smiles,
the sun sends rays to nurture.
When she cries,
the sky sends rains to nourish.
When she frowns,
the clouds converge to warn.
She dances at ease with thunder,
and cooks enviably with lightening.
I watched her as queen on horse back,
on the Savannas of Zaria.
I met her at Aba,
telling Beke to choke on his taxes.
I saw her rescue men,
at the underground railroads.
I witnessed Hannibal march on Rome
Just for her kisses,
To defend her dignity,
Okoro invented Ojukwu’s bucket.
For courtship and her amusement,
the Pharaohs built the pyramids.
I ran into her in Soweto,
Fighting and holding the fort for Mandela.
Abeokuta was hers,
after she challenged the tyranny of the Oba.
When some men cowered,
She defied Abacha with The Sunday Magazine.
I witnessed her shoot,
from the thickets of Eritrea, and Namibia
I heard her summon the ancestors to war,
the day Blood liberated Haiti.
I went to the Olympics at Atlanta,
and saw her land on her long jump from Mbaise.
I read her writings,
long before her laureate status.
I saw her sculpting Better Life Program,
When IBB laboured in Aso Rock.
On my visit to Ado-Ekiti,
I heard her speak authoritatively above whispers.
Armed with intelligence and courage,
She errected empires in Chicago and Lagos.
I joined her at the burnfire,
As she battled fake drugs in the land.
When Ebola entered Lagos,
She gave her physician life to save the nation.
I was there when, with her thirteenth birth,
She delivered the albino.
She laughs with applumb because she knows,