For Penawou who Chose Full Tide - Ekanpou

By: Enewaridideke Ekanpou

A tree fruitful sprang up in Akugbene 104 years ago.
Birds alighted on its branches and fed on the  fruits, chirping and dancing happily.
No bird could devour the fruits in their verdant vibrations.
The fruits were like the stars in the sky;
The fruits were like the sand on Alagbaru sandbank.
For the gathering birds everyday was a market day they came to buy and sell.
Birds gathered on the tree everyday and departed to their homes at dusk to return at dawn.

The fruitful tree is the marketplace of birds. 
The fruitful tree is the football pitch of birds.
The fruitful tree is the meeting hall of birds. The fruitful tree is silent like the silent waters of a canal.
That fruitful tree in Akugbene has fallen down, enveloped by silence.

That  tree that was the cathedral for all seekers of truth and light;
That tree that was the Jehovah Witnesses' Hall for all seekers of truth and light;
That tree that was the home of history-hunters is  Isaac Feremokumo Penawou  of Akugbene in Bomadi Council.
Now Penawou  has refused to smile at any visitor to his home.
He has also refused to shout at the surging crowd in his house.
Penawou has just chosen silence over  jocularity, leaving his visitors chilled and unwanted.
Even right before Joseph Tubodei, Kelly and Jennifer, Penawou has chosen excommunication over fatherly conversation, leaving all his children speechless, cold and tearful.
For 104 years Penawou's words wore the garment of air and water,  but not now.
Like the crocodile, Penawou  has closed his mouth.
Like the tortoise, Penawou has retracted to his shell.

104 years was a long period for one to know the spikes of ebb tide; 104 years was a long period for one to know the joys of full tide.
Penawou chose full tide and journeyed home without the spikes of a whirlpool; 
Penawou journeyed home without the turbulence of a tidal tug-of-war  for trophies. 

The tree has fallen but not without a thicket of mahogany, iroko and oak left behind before departing.
The old banana tree has bowed out of the stage, bringing cold and flowing waters upon all.
The old banana tree has departed but not without leaving behind young suckers;
Young suckers solid, sturdy  and strong enough to expel the cold and tears of silence from the fallen tree.

Penawou was the fruitful tree that left behind more fruitful trees.
Penawou's children are weeping;
Ijaw people are weeping;
They are weeping not because the tree has fallen at dawn rather than at dusk;
They are weeping because Penawou left without leaving behind his gold to be inherited.
Penawou's brain and mobile library  have departed with him.
Penawou's garnished sentences that flow like breeze when he writes, are no more on earth.
Penawou's library of oral history has departed the world .
Because Penawou's brain and library are irretrievable, Joseph Tubodei, his beloved siblings, half-brothers and half-sisters are still full of tears that scald their inside.

Penawou has left the world at 104, leaving behind fruitful trees bold enough to preserve his legacy;
Penawou has left the world at last at full tide;
Penawou has left the world at last with no effort to respond to his children who announce their loss with tears;
That Penawou who is no longer ready to entertain visitors is no more on earth.
That Penawou who has turned down drinks, food, clothes, light and air-conditioners from Joseph Tubodei is no more  on earth.
That Penawou no longer bothered about his morning and evening bath is no more on earth.
That Penawou no longer bothered about his morning appointment with his physician is no more on earth.
That Penawou no longer bothered about badly or excellently acted Nigerian movies watched is no more on earth.
That Penawou no longer bothered about the presence of Ogiame is no more on earth.
8 April 2026 marked the day Penawou's ship left the Akugbene Port, sailing to a country Joseph Tubodei can no longer trace.

From Joseph Tubodei many goodies and bounties have come to tempt Penawou's silence  - all as strategic blandishments for a beloved father 
All the blandishments of goodies and bounties placed before Penawou to lure him back to Akugbene have been rejected like Soyinka's 'Abiku'.
Penawou is now more bothered about safe arrival in his new home.

Ebb tide is the reversal dance of full tide.
Ebb tide carries maritime monsters.
To be home before the reversal dance of full tide is Penawou's prepossession.
May Penawou be home, safely home, before the ebb tide dismantles the joys of his full tide journey.
Gone with your gold like conjoined plantains, may your full tide become the hereditament of your children on earth.
I mean your children who are puzzled by your sudden silence at full tide.

Dr. Ekanpou writes from Akparemogbene, Delta State.