My City’s Muse in Nigeria

 

My City’s Muse in Nigeria

Every year I go for an annual pilgrimage in this lovely town. Lazily calm and quietly peaceful. But every year I learn something new. I take something or maybe more than one thing along with me on my sojourn on this earth. Although I may say the events that unfold are always the ones I need however, it may just be that my soul only percieves and accepts that which it needs the most.

Just before you enter the town, you must face a heightened turbulence, like the storm that comes before the calm. It feels like everything is about to rip apart but then you hold it all together till you reach the end.
Then a profound calm pervades all and a smooth sailing heralds your entrance. With trees hovering above the road, a careful blend between bowing down to give a royal welcome and stretching out a helping hand to usher you in for an imperial tour.
As you emerge from the leafy tunnel and make way into the sunny burst, the cliché that at the end of the dark tunnel is a blinding light never seemed more apt. Maybe this light may not blind you but it will open your eyes to the beauties of the town. A beautiful town which will calm your working race into a walking pace
The black and bold women carrying bouncing fruits, bubbling children skipping luxuriously from one end of town to another. The men, well you wouldn’t see them yet except for the very few working around. They are too busy providing for their women or too lazy sleeping or drinkng away their daylight. But trust me at night you will see them all from one joint to another shouting and laughing or simply staring at the glories of God, moulded in the form of women; women who glitter the roads and spakle even in the darkest night. Women, these blessed breed one of who brought a glowing light into this town and after whom a major road was eponymously named. A woman whose skin colour cannot be depicted in the statue that stands like a colossus in a roundabout which was named after her. A woman who fought passionate battles in small villages, evil forests and in the minds of people with but the love in her heart and sincerity of her soul. Her war trophies were souls of children who found a home in this world and the lives of men and women extricated from the bonds on their hands and in their heads.
A woman who won the war for independence long before it was fought. She inspires me and she inspired so many. This woman is Mary Slessor. Till date she stands as a colossal inspiration to all who pass through the lovely town of Calabar. She reminds us that battles are not won on the battle field, they must first be fought and won in our minds. Chains are not broken by swords or saws, they are unchained by sincere thoughts and loving hearts and Mary Slessor broke the bonds in Calabar and indeed Nigeria with her heart of gold.
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