Hohoe Horror (A Requiem)

By Kwame Okoampa-Ahoofe, Jr.

You have blighted

the land

with gloom

and doom,

Togbega Gabusu,

you have desecrated

the dead

and the womb

of the Earth…

You have palled

the land

with crime

and guilt,

you have torched

the ancestral path

of life,

Togbega Gabusu,

you have murdered

the dead

twice over,

stanched

the span

of your reign…

The peace of Hohoe

has been rent

and the gods

are suspended

amidst rancor

and mayhem,

Togbega Gabusu,

you ought to

hang your head

in shame;

for you have lost

your rank

among the wise

and gray,

you have stooped

below the depths

of indignity,

and so

you must wear

your footwear

on your head…

Lost soul,

if you cannot

heal and

console

the bereaved,

you have

no right

to pile upon

our sorrows

and pains,

Togbevi Gabusu,

kingship is no toy

for toddlers;

son of woman,

you cannot contest

your destiny,

for “your hands

are too short

to box

with God-Allah”…

in the beginning,

there was land

before

the arrival

of man,

Togbevi Gabusu,

no man owns

the land,

for the land

is the spout

of life,

the land belongs

to all,

the land is

us all…

Togbevi Gabusu,

You have tainted

the land

with gloom

and doom,

poked your forefinger

into the eyes

of God-Allah,

and so we must

sandwich

your lips

with the exile’s

leaf of red,

shave your head

naked like

the duffs

of a child,

shoo you

out of town

to purify

the Earth –

Togbevi Gabusu,

you have rained

storms and curses

upon the land,

Mawu is aggrieved,

and we are

doubly-bereaved;

you have rained

squalls of curses

upon the land,

you have brought

indelible shame

to your clan

and tribe…

Togbevi Gabusu,

God is aggrieved,

and we

your kinsmen

are anguished

beyond pain

and shame;

Togbevi Gabusu,

you have rained

hurricanes of curses

upon the land,

and we are

wounded

beyond

our wounds…

Togbe Sasabonsam,

Togbe Sasabonsam,

Togbe Sasabonsam…

6/13/12