(Paean for Pope Francis)
He blazes through the clouds,
An angel with roots in our common earth
The sun envies the lyric of his light
The wind stays steady behind his voice
He did not come to rule the world
He did not come to judge.
Ear to the ground, eye on the mission
He came to enlarge the Empire of Virtue
Spontaneous like the dew
Generous like the river
He breaks bread with beggars
And drapes ragged times in Garments of Hope
Courage his shield, compassion his compass
He shows the Have-all their blood-stained trail
The capital crime in the Market with absent rules
The Greed in the Deal which corrupts our Need
He re-routes our vision to
The toxic wound in the Eye of the Earth
That Hole in the Sky and its infernal fires
The puking ocean, the coughing mountain
Not for him the gilded Palace and its mimic mirrors.
Loin firmly girded, staff a lightning rod
He beams his balm on our Places of Pain
Unfetters the Afflicted, the heavy-laden
Principle meets Purpose
And a stubborn union is born
A passionate Omoluabi* is high on the pulpit
Showing us all new ways of being HUMAN
*In Yoruba culture Omoluabi is a person with exemplary character.
Niyi Osundare