THE PEOPLE VOTED THEIR STOMACH - Blues For An Arrested Renaissance Vintage Prof. Niyi Osundare ! A-RICE, oh compatriots Your stomach’s call obey Say, A-RICE, oh compatriots Your stomach’s call obey Hold out your bowls for the golden grains Pawn your pride without delay Grab your bribe and dance in the street To the Riceman’s drum and venal command Yes, grab your bribe and dance in the streets To the Riceman’s drum and venal command Bend your back for his heavy ride Your golden rice is your sole demand The Riceman is here, your lord and saviour Pawn your vote for his golden gift Say, the Riceman is here, your lord and saviour Pawn your vote for his golden gift Eat your rice and belch like a bull And give your guts the forgetful lift The passage down the gullet Is the fastest road to heaven Yes, the passage down the gullet Is the fastest road to heaven To those held hostage by their shameless guts There is no nirvana like the seething toilet The people voted their stomach And the dunghill usurped their future Alas, the people voted their stomach The dunghill embraced their future The wounds from this blind affair Defy the magic of the cleverest suture II The people voted their stomach And the dunghill usurped their future Alas, the people voted their stomach The dunghill embraced their future The wounds from this blind affair Defy the magic of the cleverest suture Cunning Riceman with bags Full of tricks and daggers Say, cunning Riceman with bags Full of tricks and daggers His first coming left us all In ashes and fluttering rags Brazen murders, strange disappearances: His hands drip with unexpiated crimes Yes, brazen murders, strange disappearances His hands drip with unexpiated crimes But he has an arsenal of cash and rice Both so vital in these degenerate times Rabble-rousing, clowning, scheming Frightful intimations of Idi Amin’s pedigree Yes, rabble-rousing, clowning, scheming Frightful intimations of Idi Amin’s pedigree Yesterday’s fruits still stir the leaves On History’s bewildering tree Here, once again, The wild histrionics of a deadly actor Say, here, once, again, The wild histrionics of a deadly actor Mindless applause from a captive audience Chloroformed puppets of a wily victor III They sold their birth right For a kongo* of rice Alas, they sold their birth right For a kongo of rice This mindless commerce Will come at a heavy price Erstwhile Knowledge Fountain Overgrown with Ignorance’s malignant weeds Alas, erstwhile Knowledge Fountain Overgrown with Ignorance’s malignant weeds The Book, once robust, resurgent, Has been voted out of our daily needs They sold us a lemon; we emptied Our bank of virtues to pay the price Alas, they sold us a lemon; we emptied Our bank of virtues to pay the price The will powerful guns could not subdue Now lies suborned by a spoonful of rice Poverty so desperate, so demeaning, It consumed our pride, our primal worth Yes, Poverty, so desperate, so demeaning, It consumed our pride, our primal worth The pride we once extolled is vanishing fast From the face of our stunned, corrupted earth The people voted their stomach And the dunghill usurped their future Alas, the people voted their stomach The dunghill embraced their future The wounds from this blind affair Defy the magic of the cleverest suture *Kongo: a small tin, plastic, or calabash container used for measuring peas and grains in market sales. IV Too good for us, far too advanced The reigning King is too high above our rot Say, too good for us, far too advanced The reigning King is too high above our rot Too much bound to Excellence and Honour And a public garment without a blot He expends state funds on the road to the Future He never paves the way to our bottomless stomach Yes, he expends state funds on the road to the Future He never paves the way to our bottomless stomach Whoever doesn’t know in the eating world That the gut is a grand, demanding monarch We asked for rice, he gave us Reason We asked for booty, he gave us the Book Say, we asked for rice, he gave Reason We asked for booty, he gave us a book So we trooped all out to cast our lot For the side of the dark and loaded crook The Damaged Good has riced its way To the top of the brand Alas, the Damaged Good has riced its way Right to the top of the brand Our feet stand askew On our dark and traitored land Come again soon, oh brief Renaissance This interlude forebodes a trembling twilight I say, come again, brief Renaissance This interlude forebodes a trembling twilight Sow rainbow stars in our darkening sky Divine another Dawn, new and bright
Posted on: Tue, 01 Jul 2014 07:04:09 +0000
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