June 08, 2015
NOTE: "The tether will suffer the wear and the tear" is a handsome funny poem written by Akoli Penoukou; a Togolese teacher, poet and businessman born 1953. Akoli has been a motivator and mentor to many adults and youths (both home and abroad) with writings and way of life_ not excluding his alluring smile. It wouldn't be a hyperbole to say Akoli Penoukou is currently the Wole Soyinka of Togo because he's an icon.
POEM:
Tether which inhibited us in barter
Tether which revoked our God-image
Tether which banished our patriotic rights
Tether which hindered our exodus
Tether of delusion
Tether of genocide
tightening noose of a tether
suffocating noose of a tether
neck-breaking noose of a tether
life-quenching noose of a tether
like a hangman’s
tether-noose which took away our voice
tether tightened by mammoth hands
mammoth hands powered by hearts of stone
hearts of stone activated by robot minds
but each time comes the wear and the tear
the wear
and
the tear
the tether-noose which limits and suffocates us
will again suffer the wear and the tear
the knots will slacken like a landslide
the noose will become a toothless tiger
the noose of the enemy will inevitably wear out
and we can continue our march towards light.
Rewritten March 10, 2001
The poem is from poetropical poetry website