POEM: Timing of Time: Tribute to Chief Francis Arthur Nzeribe By Nze Ozichukwu Chukwu  

TIMING OF TIME:
TRIBUTE TO FRANCIS ARTHUR NZERIBE:
OGBUAGU, OSHIJI, DAMANZE, AG’AKPA Y’AKPA.

By Nze Ozichukwu Chukwu

Words like winds, embody spirits, grow wings.
Life blooms and glows.
Meanings grow own lives,
But change in time and place.
Life is alive as you face it, live it;
With a thought for the next day.
Legends are eternal.

Precious life, changing times,
Promises of life, blunders and absurdities, are pages of life long.
Life when fulfilled and fruitful, confronts and overcomes history.
Its beauty, you admire, and sing songs of:
Praise and Thanksgiving.
Footprints, the dust may hide, witnesses trace.
Fingerprints, time will reveal.

If you know a man from his shadow,
And recall his name from his voice
His blood, you’ll never can mistake.
If all he knows and cares,
His life and times renown,
His game he has played and won.

When the cock crows,
Words change meanings.
Some retain the substance,
Even if nothing is forever.
We know character endures.
Even with all the bliss and glory;
And the paradox of hurry and tarry.

Tomorrow with its turns and twists
Changeth not the trials and thrills,
At the end is the bottom line,
Free from whispers and whispers,
Graced with Gold from the mud,
Handing, baton with smiles and cheers.

I know Arthur Francis Nzeribe, an enigma;
Hit the political space, like a thunderstorm.
And in no time became a household name, veritable name quiz.
The less you meet him, the more you learn about him.
Like the mystery of ANUNEBE,
No one, will overfly or perch at will,
Whatever dares, will drench.

Arthur crossed the Rubicon,
Raising a brand new lexicon.
AGA AKPA Y’AKPA
A catch word for posterity.

Through CARIA, Arthur strengthened bonds of the Igbo and neighbors; protagonists and antagonists had transformative romance as never before.

Arthur wasn’t predestined to sorrow, thrived without pretensions and made humor an essential part of his temperament. In all, his life has been intertwined over the years with expeditions and excitements. Fortunately, they neither made him blink nor caused him wrinkles.

Of prosperity,
Arthur gives without remembering; receives without forgetting.

As he celebrates his Birthday I thank God and pray that he still bears a most positive outlook to life; a life of full meaning, filled with colorful dealings and ending with Divine Healing in Jesus Mighty Name 🙏🙏🙏

OGBUAGU, OSHIJI, DAMANZE,
EKELE M GI.
JISIKE
ONYE NWE ANYI GBAA GI UME.

AD MULTOS ANNOS
To
THE GRANDMASTER.
THE QUINTESSENTIAL POLITICIAN.

VERY HAPPY BIRTHDAY.