TO THE HILLS OF ABUJA

 TO THE HILLS OF ABUJA Like a bird flying awayMy world lifted skywardI saluted the vast universeThe flight through and over the cloudsCame with beckoning hopesFrom the distant horizonAs I heard the call for dutyAt such short noticeRushing with the windsUpon the tinsel wings of Tri-starAn imposing lock-heed Hovering above the landAcross the forest and swampsInto the grey savannahWith clusters of settlementCut out a mesh with road networkGiving the land shapesUnimagined on the plainsI wondered,With my whole beingCaught in the airBetween the land and the sky Where could God Almighty be?The one and indivisibleA voice answeredFrom the depth of my soulSoft, still and smallSaying, “I AM that I AM,Behold AM here”. O! God of our heartsAnd of our realization, yetOther voices came contendingSupremacy of the momentClaiming…. I am Oyobio of the windsNdem Isong, the mother earthAkaso, the sea goddessThese but one, left me confusedAs I fly in my metallic wings.They sang their praisesLike the years gone byIn minutes, hours and daysInto memory and some into oblivionThey sang to the airBlown through the enginesPowered by the jetsWith hymnal tunesDown an octave noteBringing the land closerLike magnetizing pullI saw a family of rocksAcross the distant horizonFlanked by grassland savannahClustering like herds of cattleDevouring the vegetationLeaving behind dry hard surfaceIn semblance of tortoise’s backAnd elephantine, crackedBeneath the mid day sun I became heavier after eating in the airMy weight, a problem to the wingsI was dropped like a tiny seedOn a vast plantation of the universeOn the land of AbujaThe centre that unifies;I was droppedOn the land of dry hard rocksWith dust haze around the peaksFrom the heated crustAnd smoke from the burning bushesTo the hills on the plains Beneath the soilThe spirit of our ancestorsLinked the past with presentAnd pleaded on their kneesWith heads bent backwardTo the towering hillsPouring libationsAnd offering sacrificesWith ritual dancesFrom all the cornersOf the rocky hillsTo the defense sheltersOf Aso, the seat of power,To all the gods of the landAnd to the one that says“I am Zuma”The star god of the rocks