SHOOT YOUR DREAMS...

Hey, listen...

In the history books of black women 

where uncommon boldness, 

that out-of-this-world DARE TO BE DIFFERENT sagacity lives,

There was 

-The Dahomey Amazons

There was 

Resilient in the fiery bones of

-The unyielding Olufunmilayo Ransome Kuti

-The Unbroken Sojourner Truth

-The rising Maya

 Angelou

-The Magnificient Miriam Makeba

- The Fearless Yaa Asantewa

-Relentless Dora Akunyili

Yes, Yes..

There is the 

Amiable Malala Yousafzai

Undaunted Joyce Banda

Impeccable Folashade Ogunsola

The driven Ellen Johnson

The wise Folake Solanke

The “never backing down” Kemi Bakare

The unbeaten Donna Ogunnaike

The tireless Aisha Yesufu

The roaring Wangari Maatthai

And now, there is you

A wild promising, 

A fast-rising maverick wonder,  

generation of warriors  rising from her shoulders...

You 

...Okeleye Damilola Dorcas...

Yes...

Look at me,

Look to see if you can decipher what this seer sees

See, 

someone said if what you live all your life for isn't worth dying for.

Then, it isn't worth living for.

Ask yourself to ask yourself, what are you living for?

Damilola

You - Glittering like stars in the heart of the sky

Be bold, blast through your fears like a shining star

Tear yourself into particles of your dreams;

Burst forth like gas caged in cylinders

Break age-long barriers

Walk your name into immortality

Do not die before you leave

Do not leave until you have lived

Yes

Mark Lawrence chanted everybody dies but not everybody lives

But you must live, like legends do

Clasping In your hands the time of many kings

Oba mewa Igba Mewa

Seriki ngoma, samani goma

Remember

Oruko rere san ju opolopo wura ati fadaka lo 

Like never before, be your own fan

When you fall a hundred times

Rise a hundred and one 

Unleash!

Shoot your dreams with triggers of incurable optimism

Do not retreat

Do not relapse

Burn the midnight oil

Fan the flames!

Fan the flames!

Fan the flames!

Hold faith on your fists

Let rain fall, as you punch your way through a thunder strike

Fear not, stand firm, the adversities of today 

makes tomorrow a brighter rewarding adventure...

makes tomorrow a sweeter wine

Remember 

Before a seed becomes a forest, It starts with a leaf.

Congratulations!

©BankHALL

Edited by: Adetimehin Victor Inioluwa (Vic'Adex)

26.03.2023

Note

"Oba" isa Yoruba language word for "King"

Oba mewa, igba mewa literally means Ten Kings, Ten seasons...

Seriki Ngoma, samani Ngoma (Hausa words): same meaning as above

"Oruko rere San ju opolopo wura ati fadaka lo (Good name/reputation is greater than many gold and silver)

........This piece was a token gift to OKELEYE OLUWADAMILOLA DORCAS, for emerging Winner; BankHALL Media Maiden Online Yoruba to English Poetry Translation Prompt 2023.

TO GET A MUSICAL AUDIO VERSION OF THIS PIECE, REACH BANKHALL MEDIA VIA WHATSAPP ON +2348127745061 OR +2348035138888

A KINGMAKER'S WISE WORDS

 GRACIANO ENWEREM'S HIGHLY INSPIRING (PINNED) POST OF WEDNESDAY JANUARY 26, 2022👇

I said my first word at almost 5.

I stammered and stuttered and was very scared of speaking in public, but have you watched any of my performances? I looked nothing like me!

I stayed on my own at a very young age but was truly independent in 2014.

I studied English and Literary Studies for 11 years instead of 4 (I'm even depressed whenever I talk about this. I haven't healed, I only moved on).

I published my first book, SPOKEN WORD POETRY-101, 10 years after writing it but I've sold almost 9,000 copies.

I made my first 1 Million Naira pretty late. "How late?" Compared to my PEERS, my journey hasn't been very FRUITFUL.

I'm yet to buy myself a car or complete my own house. And yes, I'm still celibate.

I know that I'm that land left to fallow, so I wait.

I wait knowing that it's only a matter of time and like Sefi Atta said, Everything Good Will Come.

I'm working passionately while I wait.

So, if you don't see me around where we used to chat, know that I'm working.

If I don't smile anymore or I do that listlessly, know that there's this frown that accompanies work for a grown-ass man who is towing a popular path.

I might look calm up here and out there but like the duck, oh, I paddle like MAD!

My status, like my hair might change... Low, fro, plaits or dreads, but one thing that will remain forever, is this my resolve to keep doing this one thing I'm good at and be stupendously successful at it. This is my waiting game. 

Dear Royalty, I ask you, are you willing to die for what you believe in? Is faith only what you've been taught in the Sunday School that you always arrive late to?

HOW GOOD IS YOUR WAITING GAME?