Ode to Daybreak Ghana

By Kwesi Atta Sakyi 11th August 2012

(This poem is dedicated to my cousin, Paa Kwesi Mintah, who is in the USA)

Morning has broken like the first morning,

Earthlings receive it without mourning,

Every living thing celebrates without moaning,

Daylight yawns as dawn dawns on Ghanaians,

Yes, morning has broken like the first morning in the Garden of Eden,

Long, long ago at the beginning of history,

Where life forms began this cyclical mystery

Your welcoming of it is not unwelcome,

Daybreak is a miracle calling for celebration,

You need to behold the scene in calibration,

Of a majestic sunrise across the dambos of the savannah,

You need to behold, not to be told,

Yes, morning has broken,

All animals are released from their fold,

From the hold of the Great Good Shepherd

Morning has broken like the first morning,

A brand new day awakens from its 12 hour slumber,

Yes, morning sprouts like a new flower from its bud,

Morning, like a snake, sloughs off its

Unwanted skin of pitch darkness

Again, morning awakens its dreary reverie

Feeling the pangs of insomnia as it peels off the night,

Perhaps, morning is as old as old can be,

Morning feels groggy from senility and geriatric blues

Morning has broken like the first morning,

Once again, the sun jolts sleep-dead

Humans with shafts of its resplendent rays,

Oh, what thrill, what elation to enunciate

The Omnipotent for his manifold benefices,

Yes, the Omnipotent who is Omniscient,

Omnificent, Omnipresent, Omnilucent,

Omnipercipient, Omniprevalent, Omnilateral,

Omnitemporal, Omnilingual Omnisubjugant,

Omnibus, Omnificent, Omnifarious, Omnicompetent

The Divine Tetragrammaton (YHWH)……

Yes, praise Him for the wonderful gift of

Another day of your life,

Hatched from the egg of a brand new day,

The wonders of His works not ceasing to amaze

His handiwork on earth and in the sky, there to daze,

Yes, firmament infinite and ocean vast,

Never cease to gaze

Morning has broken like the first morning,

All creation erupt to enunciate

The munificence of the Creator,

Birds of diverse hues disvirgin and

Disrobe the night at dawn,

With punctilious punctuations of penetrating melodies,

In times of grief, these are threnodies

From arbour to arbour their canticles

Rendered clear in exquisite adulation,

Humans in different religions at dawn,

Sacrifice their morning devotions and oblation,

On the altar of the sanctum sanctorum,

Yes, at cockcrow at dawn, consider your obligations,

Morning has broken like the first morning,

The sun, the great disinfectant, springs to work,

Riding the arc of the sky in its golden chariot,

Cleansing and sanitizing our corrupt and

Polluted world as it soars the arc of the sky,

Accelerating decay and simultaneously

Giving birth to incalculable life forms

Yes, our death is determined at birth,

Need you not pause from your mirth?

To ponder this imponderable conundrum of

Death at birth?

This conjoined and coterminous truth,

Our puny mind should flirt,

For, we are nothing but mere dirt

Morning has broken like first morning,

The sun that gives life

Also programmes our half life atomic clock,

On its ascent at morn,

It banishes the gloom of night and death

At sunset, to remind us of doom and death,

Need you not ponder this daylight and

Nightfall riddle, nay phenomenon?

To me, it defies imagination,

To all of us, it deserves our admiration, worship and sense of wonder,

To Olympian heights, let all Ghanaians aspire,

For a Better Ghana, let us all perspire,

To a new dawn, we beckon

To a glorious vista, we reckon

Note: 1. Dambos are vast stretches of savannah plains in Zambia.

2. The author enjoys metaphysical poetry and free verse or prose poetry.

3. The author will appreciate critics who will comment on his style, diction, mood, tone, his use of other literary devices such as imagery, contrast, irony, repetition, alliteration, rhyme, personification, apostrophe etc.

Contact: kwesiattasakyi449@gmail.com