Drumbeats

Before you read this, let me give a rough background.

I wrote this poem at a very trying time in my life. I guess the pain was good because this poem made me really so happy that I desired to add 'poet' to the list of thing I aspire to be. So here it is...

Drumbeats

Drumbeats of my sunrise,

Drumbeats of my past.

The familiar sounds of childhood,

The joys and pains that last.

Whenever I’m awake at night,

And as I drift across the day,

The steady beats lurk in the crooks of my mind,

I constantly hear them play.

The familiar rhythm of these drumbeats,

They take me on my journey,

As the steady beats go on I recognize

My very enthralling story.

The twists and turns of this enchanting tale,

I can interpret most of the time,

Like when the beat becomes a wanton wail,

As the drums slow to a woeful whine.

At times the beats elude me,

They become a strain to hear,

Or I cannot make out the complicated clatter

Which begin to fill my tiny ears.

No matter how hard I strain to make sense

Of this seemingly melodious rumble,

The beats, they elude me and seem to be

Surely enjoying my perplexed anxiety.

Other times my drumbeats get too loud,

I cannot bear to hear them.

Or is my conscience constricting my capacity,

As it blocks out the mocking jeers?

These drumbeats, they seem to tell, again, of times gone very far,

Of the stings that never dull – the strikes, prickly as a stare.

So I try to block the tempo’s shout,

Hoping that with time, the beats will die out.

The simplest are the ones, those beats,

Which make me grin and cackle as I listen.

I so want to tap the solemn stranger beside me,

And share the magical rhythm.

The perfect pulse, at the perfect volume,

These beats are especially pleasing,

But I cannot take note of them for long,

I’m inclined to lose myself in their unrealistic song.

So contrary to what may seem clear,

My most enchanting rhythms,

Are not the thrilling thumps the drumbeats make.

They are the mystical tempos of foreign lands,

Strokes of alien journeys I am yet to take.

I have never heard these beats echo, yet they hold the greatest allure,

They are the drumbeats of my sunset,

Drumbeats of a future pure.

© 2006, Oluwadamilola Odunayo Oyedele