Poem: Were I To Choose by Gabriel Okara

Were I to Choose

 “When Adam broke the stone

            and red streams reged down to

          gather in the womb,

          an angel calmed the storm”,

“And I, the breath mewed

            in Cain, unbliniking gaze

                at the world without

                             from the brink of an age”.

 

          Gabriel is immersed in folk tradition and ballad influences of tradition and culture are found in his poem. His poems are regional as well as universal. His poems are sometimes lyrical and full of music.

 

 

                The poem ‘Were I to choose’ is reminiscent of yeast poem called “Adam’s Curse.” The poet has tried to compare Adam’s toiling in the soil with the Negros working in the soil. They broke the stone themselves which was their very foundation. The red streams are symbolized for the multilingual diversity that reaches the womb Africa.

          Cain in this poem metaphorically represents the next generation. ‘I’ in Okara’s poems generally refers to the tribe. The poet implies that he is currently imprisoned in the present generation and the crisis of identity of generation. The earlier generations gaze would not go beyond; but he does and to him the world is looked at from the brink.

                 The poem is written in 1950, the period of Nigerian independence, the poet sees his ancestors-their slavery, their groping lips, the breasts molted by heart-rending suffering. The poet’s vision goes outside and backgrounds. The memory is like a thread going through his ears.

          The poet compares Cain with modern man, Cain was a wonderer and if he was caught by anybody, he would be definitely slain. Similar is the condition of the modern uneducated man who does not pass any aim. The poet, at the age of 31, is multilingual and thinks about the medium of his instruction. The tower of Babel symbolizes unity. When the ‘Tower of Babel’ was constructed, God cursed the concerned people. The people wanted to construct a great tower signifying oneness and around it people would stand united. They wanted to speak the same language but God despised the fact. There is no proper foundation or structure remaining. His world has deteriorated to ‘world of bones’.

    "And O of this dark halo

   were the tired head free.

   And when the harmattan

   of days has parched the throat

   and skin, and sucked the fever

   of the head away".

  "Then the massive dark descends, and flesh    and bone are razed.

     And (O were I to choose) I’d cheat the worms

  and silence seek in stone”.

                       The poet now wants to free himself from the imprisonment of this dark ‘halo’ who is generally considered as ‘blessed; but seems dark to him. His conflict is not being able to choose from the different languages. He is torn between worlds. The poet likens his predicament with mingling with dust during the month December to February in Nigeria. The throat is dry and he is unable to speak out.

                He is delirious ass the flames of torture are burning his existence. The colonial period has made the poet an amalgam of European and African cultures, and now he finds himself in a no man’s land. He relishes the idea of resolving the crisis by seeking refuge in the silence of the grave. He then would be cheating the worms because he would enjoy that state of affairs.