A Song for Freedom Park, by Akeem Lasisi

The coronavirus restrictions are hitting hard on the entertainment and tourism industry. In Lagos, one of the major centres experiencing lull is Freedom Park, which many fun seekers and other stakeholders must surely be missing.

To them and poetry lovers generally, here is a song:

FREEDOM PARK
– Akeem Laisi
From as far as a dozen miles
I feel the magic of unfettered vibes,
An aroma divulging secrets of the food court
Laughters tearing through a lagoon of wines:
If this were a prison yard,
Without planning a phantom coup
I would choose to be jailed for life and death.

Here where enjoyment is filled to the brim
Yet sanity and nature are never lost
Mild on social class, melting pot for the grey and green
As dancers match drummers in a jubilant clash
Music gurgling in assorted genres
Life dissolves into art in a rhythm rare.
How do you really want leisure –

Is it in episodes or feature films?
How would you like to nourish your soul?
Communing with artifacts or pollen grains,
Or fondling fountains or pregnant ponds?
At the food court sweet indeed is the gain of the chain:
From a dark dungeon to a freedom park
We bury yester’s hatred in vivid fun.

First published in Phenomenal Lagos: 50 Monuments in the Centre of Excellence, by Lasisi and Kabir Alabi