USA Africa Dialogue Series - Re: Poetic Thoughts

Chidi,

Quite a thoughtful, poetic reprimand.

I salute your bravery !

In the wake of Don Kperogi's latest, I take it as for granted - perhaps a wild and sinful guess

that "The Saint" in question is none other than our own Brer Buhari ?

My guess is premised on the poetic intuition   - having kept your company for so long in this forum, that you do not roam far away from home  -  (Lagos the big city is not so far from Owerri) and moreover hagiography is OK although I've developed  some reservations about demonology ever since my Sufi Sheikh ( Dr. Javad Nurbakhsh) showed me the face of the one that I hated most  - I had always thought that it was Mr. HItler but when I looked into the mirror all I saw staring back at me was the devil :  Saddam Hussein  : and then , sometime later I understood that that's what could happen  when you have an Iranian Pir or when for a couple of years you only read Tehran Times and Kayhan demonization of Saddam during the later part of the Iraq-Iran War. For Biafrans the archdemon would probably be somebody else. ( I still fault your idol Achebe for denying AWO the right to a national funeral on the grounds that  - his words, on the grounds that AWO " was not an Igbo God"

It's no consolation either , that there's a little bit of everybody in me and in you, even if  the quality/ level of anger is not the same in everybody...

Anyway, back to reality, back from that post-hypnotic suggestion. Please bear in mind that theologically speaking, even given the heavenly hierarchies - check out the first elegy  ( from Rilke's  Duino Elegies - ( in 1970 fortuitously handed over to me by African-American Brother George Crowell, then studying dance at the Insts. of African Studies in Ghana)  the  hierarchies , bear in mind, the universes and inuit how important you are :

God,

His archangel,

His angels,

His planets,

His  galaxies,

His universes etc  etc and down here on planet earth ,the humble saints from "humus" usually do not have "subordinates "  since in their own eyes they are lower than the dust and heaven is up above. But to the question :

Is this your subtle way of cautioning the saint about ignoring "the sins of subordinates"?

And please take note :  There is a also subtle difference between

The other Saint cautioning us ( you and yours truly  included) about insulting others

and

The other Saint cautioning us ( you and yours truly  included) for insulting others

Or do you want me to translate the above into pidgin Igbo ( your mother tongue) ?

Last question : Do you Chidi, know the difference between God  and a saint?

Well,  this is originally in holy Arabic and is known as Ayatul kursi - the heart of the Quran / the throne verse : 2.255)).Pickthall's translation

" Allah! There is no God save Him, the Alive, the Eternal. Neither slumber nor sleep overtaketh Him. Unto Him belongeth whatsoever is in the heavens and whatsoever is in the earth. Who is he that intercedeth with Him save by His leave ? He knoweth that which is in front of them and that which is behind them, while they encompass nothing of His knowledge save what He will. His throne includeth the heavens and the earth, and He is never weary of preserving them. He is the Sublime, the Tremendous."

This verse belongs to the top of the page....

On Sunday, 29 October 2017 15:02:29 UTC+1, Chidi Anthony Opara wrote:

The saint

Like the ostrich

Buries

His head in the sand,

Oblivious 

Of the swirls

Of the sins of subordinates,

His sainthood intact.

(c) Chidi Anthony Opara

#2017Poeticthoughts

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Chidi Anthony Opara is a Poet and Publisher of PublicInformationProjects

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