So, Ikeogu Oke Died
Iflung away the newspaper, blurting out, “Why should this guy die? It dawned on me that my hunch usually holds good, but bad was the premonition of his death. Aggrieved as though having lost a soulmate, even though we never met, could my compassion have been accentuated by his jubilant triumph at the 2017 Nigerian Prize for Literature and all his poetic accolades, though futile they have become unless good deed lives after him.
But good men die and the bad live after them. I stumbled on his trademark photograph, portraying his native costume, sober visage, benign demeanour and ennobling gait and was jolted by the caption, in The Punch of Tuesday, 27th November 2018, “….mourn award-winning poet”.
I knew he was a timeless philosopher, a legend that had to die, untimely as it is, for legends live in the hearts of men, as iconic vestiges. They are like meteors that rocket across the sky illuminating the firmament but for a moment, then fall to the earth as meteorites of funeral, only, in his case, not tragic as I thought or feared. There was something of his physiognomy that smacked of one. But then, I could not place my hand on what it is about him that bereaved me. Was it his “denge denge” refrain at the end of each own hymnal verses, or his sleeveless singlet or his apron of games’-hide, or his loin cloth, Santa Claus hood and sling-over bag, becoming of a native doctor or a masquerade was his signature attire with an aura of a certain tragic-comedy. He couldn’t have been around for much longer, sputting up in that manner. Unlike the effusive out-pouring of encomiums, eulogizing this great son of Africa, mighty man of the pen and citizen of the world, words fail the tears awash my soul. Monastery monks and erudite scholars do look down on material wealth, but the wisdom of the poor is despised, so society never listens to the poet and philosopher, by so doing repeat the mistakes of history.
He was probably a man of stubborn moral rectitude and modest means, despised by his neighbours, for he had no official position. Responsibility is saddled, what joy is there then in authority, that men should so covet, if not for shame and pride. For honour is the greatest need of the human soul, even before money, whose face value is a promissory note and real value is that of choices that come with opportunity cost, on a scale of preference, known as priorities. So, material time is the period of a given amount of resources to accommodate ones indifference curve.
But maybe we can search out the significance of his life and death in the learning and prudence of King Solomon, his sweet-lips of éclairs and soliloquy in his twelfth Ecclesiastes “Remember now thy creator in the days of thy youth, while the evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh, when thou shall say, I have no pleasure in them. While the sun, or the light, or the moon, or the stars, be not darkened, nor the clouds return after the rain: In the day when the keepers of the house shall tremble, and the strong men shall bow themselves, and the grinders cease because they are few, and those that look out of the windows be darkened. And the doors shall be shut in the streets, when the sound of grinding is low, and he shall rise up at the voice of the bird, and all the daughters of musick shall be brought low; And also when they shall be afraid of that which is high, and fears shall be in the way, and the almond tree shall flourish, and the grasshopper shall be a burden, and desire shall fail: because man goeth to his long home, and the mourners go about the streets: Or ever the silver cord be loosed, or the golden bowl be broken, or the pitcher be broken at the fountain, or the wheel broken at the cistern. Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it. Vanity of vanities saith the preacher; all is vanity. Moreover, because the preacher was wise, he still taught the people knowledge; yea he gave good heed and sought out, and set in order many proverbs. The preacher sought to find out acceptable words: and that which was written was upright, even words of truth. The words of the wise are as goads, and as nails fastened by the masters of assemblies, which are given from one shepherd and further, by these, my son, be admonished: of making many books there is no end; and much study is weariness to the flesh. Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man, for God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil.