SONGS OF A GOOD ALE

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SONGS OF A GOOD ALE

Mal'tima,
The pepper soup has carried
Every morsel of your pounded yam
To the blessed harbour
Where it'll wait for nature's call.

As I stretch my tired flesh
On my father's father's lounge,
Counting blessings of caressing winds,
And gazing upon the rest of the journey
That'll lead to the other side of life
Where great and glorious ancestors
Wait to welcome me with cola and earth,
Let me remind you of the great libation.

The sun calls for it,
The dry winds call for it,
The resting morsels wait for it,
The tube gets dry by the minutes,
For life herself calls for it.

Now fetch me a filled gourd
And a calabash from my hut;
Sing ancient songs of a good ale
Sit and bear witness as I give
Some of the red ale to earth
To awake and invite ancestors

Nothing washes away a man's sorrow 
Even the red walls behind me know
Nothing touches an old man's thoughts
On a good day like the heavenly red

© Alhassan Rabiu

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