Tribute to Chima Ubani - Even In The Deep Deep Darkness

Even in deep deep darkness
In the very heart of the black hole
Those who share the sweet stories
Mingle with others with lesser role
And others, the pure purple pain
Are sometimes oblivious of the gain

Chima Ubani, like all greats
You trode the path conscious of the thorns
Focused on the flower and the bloom
Found in every rose.
The tenacity, commitment and courage
Marks the northern star, the cause
Martin Luther King Jr spoke of you
Of men and women like you for whom
The world lies less sublime to tyrants

Something to live for is something to die for
You have done your bit well
Whether the nation glues together, or
breaks apart, or embrace social hell
You have done your bit well
The rest is upto us now.

How we die is just a punctuation
In a very long novel story called Life
What we live and die for, is not just diction
It's what counts, when glory is rife.
The many greats standing on the mountains of history
Very few had the fortune of dying in their beds
From Socrates to Jesus Christ to Ceaser and Alexander

Our legacies what will they be?
Yours is now curved in ivory, diamond and
In every precious stone and history worth reading.
When our deeds are sieved like wheat
What would be left behind?
When our deeds endure the refining fire
Will they shine as gold or burn untold?

Your story now is known, rest my friend
When we saw last at Kaduna during the retreat
When Aso Rock met the people's rock
To fashion a platform for Government-civil society partnership
You spoke with the tongue of Mark Anthony and
The heart of Ghandi
That was September 15.
Who could have known but God alone
That in ten days, your earthly sourjourn would be complete.

You have paid the ultimate price
in your struggle against tyranny
You lived and died well
And still tolls the bell
In our hearts and in our nation's history
You Live Still, Unforgotten.

The tyrants are silent
that is their epitaph
And You
Your sunshine still shines.

Add to, Fill these pages
O Ye who read these lines
With tributes, stories, memories
Pictures, poems, articles, lines
That would remain posted
In the heart of the net and of all
Who value the struggle of freedom.

Dele-Israel Ikeorha
Executive Director, Development International
http://developmentclinic.tripod.com
Mobile: +234 (0)8035999921

Tribute to Chima Ubani - Remembered

Sonnet of the Morning Light
(a Tribute to Chima Ubani)

Every glorious turn of history is made
By wheels of sacrifice,hearts of greatness
The tears we shed, the joys we share express
Our being shining before the morning light.

The marks we make on sands of time resound
Our names as fragrance rise above the stress
And what deeds are remembered are no less
Virtues on which nations entrust thier sight.

The flowers fly amidst the sunny sky
And sway above the mortal winds display
The answer to hope is just another why
The world's new light enfolds with love today.

Peoples advance on a culture of change
Men, by living beyond the common range.

Dele-Israel Ikeorha
Kaduna October 19, 2005