Adieu

Adieu Eugenia

The windy sky has ceased to blaze,

She left the horizon with a tethering trace,

The end deeply rooted below the ground

She slipped away forever without a sound

Thou was away to the river for a night,

Who told the sky not to bear its light?

The sky has shredded another shiny star

Though sad; I surely know where thou hath,

When thou saw the heaven at a glance;

In thy spiritual journey like a trance

Thou saw its beauty and its jasper stone;

So rapturous at the sight of thy brethren Gladstone,

Will I now summon thee for a second?

The mortal sullenly beckons..

But thou has gone beyond,

Far from here, but thou is still young?

Let’s unwind through our parchment soul,

Thou through thy poems thy lyric glows,

A writer, giver and an active citizen,

This life is short, all ye please listen,

Death came in his sulky trot,

Wantonly took Eugenia with the illness plot

He wrapped her with an eternity cloak,

The inevitable came without a knock,

Hearken to God from thy youth,

Like Eugenia preached about peace and truth,

Thy youthful days over, though art come of age,

Death is near, treading silently at thy gate,

Cast thy oars to the yester past,

Little we had, I thought thou would last,

I knew thee as a critic that was pure,

Thou championed humanity for the just and poor,

Ina lillahi wa-ina ileyi rajihun

Thy Muslim friends solemnly bid thee adieu,

At the cathedral, we lift our rosary for thee to God,

Farewell friend, rest in the bosom of the Lord

(Poem: “Adieu” by Olorunleke Odubote)