(Lailai to Lailai)Elegy to Nimi Dimkpa Briggs The Indomitable Spirit of Our time
On a day like this
I should rise
In my voice, with a song
A flute and a gong
Even though the season is drenched
with the wetness of loss
I shall lift my heavy feet
to dance
For a living hero.
Refrain from Ogunde’s song:
(Eni ba mo Agbe, ko bawa daro Aro
Eni ba mo Aluko, ko bawa daro osun
Ebawa daro Agbe ti o fo
Ebawa dara okunkun ti okun)
Those intimate with Nimi
Sing his eulogy
Those close to the son of Abonema
Chant his praise name
Commiserate with the broken calabash
Condole on darkness that palls
Never, say, and never, die
Nimi
You will never die
In the grateful hearts of
The nation and humanity
Whom you serve
In immortal humility.
Lailai to Lailai
So you always say
In moments
Of timeless rejection of the spirit of failure;
You are the man
Of timeless hope and die-less optimism–
To the assailants of your indomitable spirit.
Every good thing must happen
In our time,
That, Dimkpa, is your homily,
Your dictum of human possibilities
Even in the staring and glaring
Gaze of obstcles and challenges to the course;
By Agents of the cave-bound-ness
Of the human nadir–
You’ll rage-Lailai to Lailai!.
And so,
You led as though being led
In dogged love of mankind
Though we know,
In virtue of your chosen calling,
That your scalpel probes
With clinical finality
Into the uteral anatomy
Of womanhood at birth-pangs
But,
It is your dominant commitment
To the cure of the human soul
That breeds both the baby, and
The human mind.
Ah, Nimi Dimkpa Briggs
The eloquence of your turn- of- phrase
The redolence of your drinkable oratory
The sweetness of your fighting tongue
The agility of your sprightly jogging feet
Every early mornings of your life,
In ready preparatory of your pursuit
And quick-thinking
For work-a-day jobbery
For the survival of our land’s dream.
Lailai to lailai
(Gbala gbala
Olorun maje!
Tufiakwa!
Allah ya sauwake!)
In all the tongues of your polygottal word-thoughts
Never ever-die;
Not even death can blur your dream
Of what must happen
To the future of our beleaguered land.
All the sages gather
For a timeless vigil
But they cannot garner
A totem of regret
That death must rage forever and for aye.
Yes! Emeritus Professor Briggs,
Lailai to lailai
Your spirit cannot die
Until and even after your dreams come true,
Dear friend,
Since you planted the live- forever tree,
Our lives are sole witnesses
To your never die-ness
Your never-say,and never die
Forever- live, forever- be
In the grateful heart
Of the nation and humanity
Whom you serve ,
In immortal humanity.
Goodnight, then,
Dear leader, dear friend, dear patriot.
Eni ba mo Agbe…
Olu Obafemi.
