Fare thee well, Comrade talker, Fidel.
On Batista’s ashes you ruled and reigned.
Cahoots with Ernesto ‘Che’, you branded
Cuba, for fifty decades, in your image.
So effective were thee, that the Gringo
neighbor to the north, millions spent to
upend la revolution. Yet, your island remain.
Fashioned still in your image, oh yes!
In Havana, in Miami, residents or exiles
in equal measure mourn thee. Your utopia
much in discuss. Be it in the archipelagos,
Santiago de Cuba, Camaguey, the whole
of the Caribbean lands mourn thee, Fidel.
Be it for good or ill, more than eleven million
lives ye touched. White, Black, Mulatto all
mourn or laugh, each with their memories.
Born of privilege, married early into one.
People’s lawyer who charged nothing for
services so much craved in a corrupt era.
Yet, forswear thee a guaranteed life of
ease and pleasure; for a guerrillas’ doom.
Your July 26 movement prevailed and rocked
the Americas, inspiring radicalism all over.
To reactionaries and rent seekers’ chagrin all over!
Alas, like all mortals, your end now dawned.
But fair warning it gave thee for more seasons
than most. Now, The Indisputable Immortal, your life
will examine. Wish a fly I could be on that wall!
But, none though can deny, a garrulous priest
ye remained of communal economics so much so,
your version post dated its Soviet communal
parents! How else should a mortal in deed be judged?
Father of Fidelito, and nine more; salute for me
comrades fallen, fairly or not. Enjoy your rest,
but alas no cigars for yonder I’m sure; but hey,
you being Fidel, maybe another exception awaits.?
Broke all the rules, you did, with aplomb. Only
mortal leader to defy eleven Gringo presidents.
Survived ye, the Bay of Pigs, even more many
machinations of world’s elites; but this battle, lost ye.
Journey well in the bowels of the earth.
Where else could it ever be?
Comrade, you fought a troubled fight.
How else could it have been?
Yet, prevailed thou. Despite huge odds.
Fare the well, Fidel. Farewell leader of men.
Victoria Ascerta! Pamberi na chimuranga!!
Sadly, we shall not be seeing again.
© 26th November 2016. Adewale Adeniji. 😩.
