Double Vision: off up north

29 November 2010

off up north

Off up north tomorrow, just over the border from where I used to live in Uganda. I'm looking forward to nights with nothing to do but sit by the fire, look at the stars and try to decipher conversation in omiti. More when I get back...

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To An English friend In Africa

Be grateful for the freedom
To see other dreams.
Bless your loneliness as much as you drank
Of your former companionships.
All that you are experiencing now
Will become moods of future joys
So bless it all.
Do not think your ways superior
To another’s.
Do not venture to judge,
But see things with fresh and open eyes
Do not condemn
But praise what you can
And when you can’t, be silent.

Time is now a gift for you,
A gift of freedom
To think and remember and understand
The ever perplexing past,
And to re-create yourself anew
In order to transform time.

Live while you are alive.
Learn the ways of silence and wisdom.
Learn to act, learn a new speech.
Learn to be what you are in the seed of your spirit.
Learn to free yourself
from all things that have moulded you
And which limit your secret and undiscovered road.
Remember that all things which happen
To you are raw materials,
Endlessly fertile,
Endlessly yielding of thoughts that could change
Your life and go on doing for ever.

Never forget to pray and be thankful
For all the things good or bad on the rich road;
For everything is changeable
So long as you live while you are alive.
Fear not, but be full of light and love.
Fear not, but be alert and receptive.
Fear not, but act decisively when you should.
Fear not, but know when to stop.
Fear not, for you are loved by me.
Fear not, for death is not the real terror,
But life - magically - is.
Be joyful in your silence,
Be strong in your patience,
Do not try to wrestle with the universe,
But be sometimes like water or air,
Sometimes like fire.

Live slowly, think slowly, for time is a mystery.
Never forget that love
Requires that you be
The greatest person you are capable of being.
Self-generating and strong and gentle-
Your own hero and star.
Love demands the best in us,
To always and in time overcome the worst
And lowest in our souls.
Love the world wisely.
It is love alone that is the greatest weapon
And the deepest and hardest secret.
So fear not, my friend.
The darkness is gentler than you think.
Be grateful for the manifold
Dreams of creation
And the many ways of unnumbered peoples.

Be grateful for life as you live it.
And may a wonderful light
Always guide you on the unfolding road.

Ben Okri