Those who own today

Those who owned yesterday,
where are their wagons, their wives, their wine?
Did their gold grow into grain,
or did it glimmer and go to strangers?
A pot of plenty poured on the proud
still leaves the poor with plenty.

Those who owned yesterday,
did their crowns not crumble in their coffers?
Did their banners not bleach beneath the blazing sun?
If the cock crows for the king,
does the dawn delay for the servant?

Those who owned yesterday,
what throne still thunders for them?
What drum still declares their deeds?
If crowns could cling forever,
Would graves grow gardens?
The river that roared yesterday,
Will it not run shallow when tomorrow drinks?

Those who owned yesterday,
what fortress of fame has not fallen?
What empire of iron has not rusted in rain?
What table of triumph has not been traded for scraps?

Power plants pride,
pride plunders peace,
patience plucks the prize.

Those who owned yesterday,
I tell you, power is a borrowed pot.
It boils for a season, then breaks in another’s fire.
Titles are tokens, heavy today, hollow tomorrow.
The hand that hoards the harvest
still hungers when harm comes.

Those who owned yesterday,
I ask:
What is wealth without watchers?
What is conquest when children cough for corn?
What is fame when the flute forgets your song?
A road ruled by rulers
still runs into ruin.

Those who owned yesterday,
their scepters sleep in pawnshops,
Their palaces are pasture,
For the crown is a circle;
it rolls,
it returns,
It refuses a resting place.

Those who owned yesterday,
their shadows stretch,
but their substance is small.
Their names are nailed to stones,
yet the soil swallows the sound.
For what is a king but clay?
And what is clay but tomorrow’s crumb?

Those who own today,
There were those who owned yesterday!

_Majekodunmi 0. Ebhohon is a poet, media practitioner, and playwright. Author of the Black revolutionary play ‘The Great Delusion’, he writes from Benin City, Edo State, Nigeria
_sankara101010@gmail.com_
_+234 (0) 913 920 8624_