Yaa Mansa saw him
She deplored his deplorable state
She thought him desperate
She found him desperately miserable
…in a failed state
He had been explored and exploited
…by the brokers that be
…by the powers that be
…by the lovers that left him in pain
And made him pitiable
Even in his pitiable state
She fell head over heels for him
She said she must trail him no matter what it would take
She must take him by hook or by crook
…whether he liked her or not
So she sought his heart through many ways
…some crude
…some good
…some planted
…some chanced
Then her culinary arrows passed his stomach
For her Cupid arrows to pierce his heart
He fell head over heels for her
Yaa Mansa had her will running for a long time
In that long time she learned to be a roaring tyrant
…a dictating hazard
Yaa Mansa had ran amok in her policing
Which turned her despotic
Which left him disappointed
Which sent him looking for a way out
Which saw him go out and about
And when it was time to row the boat
…from coast to coast
There was a sour taste left in his mouth
Instead of swearing to a vow
He sought a way to bow out
Ready to scout to row a new boat
He saw Abena Birago
She was scouting for a he to cherish and to hold
He found in her a willing soul
A soul willing to play along
…to sing a new love song
He put it to her to vie for an eviction role
To vie to evict Yaa Mansa the despot
So Yaa must go
Then Abena must come
Mansa must give way to Birago
When they set out to pilot the plot
It was silky and easy at first
The duo was pleased at first
Pleased to think Yaa Mansa would soon go
And leave a void for Abena Birago to go unopposed
But Yaa Mansa was no mere pushover
She girded her loins to stay put
To protect her past input
To claim what she helped to recover
“Where were you when he had gone stale?
When his very survival was at stake
When he had failed in his state
I will not leave him today
Not leave him tomorrow
We shall both stay if to multiply his sorrow
We shall rule him in turns
According to our own terms
We shall compete to see who stays”
If Yaa Mansa was trouble enough
Abena Birago was an added trouble thereof
She turned back his wheel of improvement
Rolled back some pockets of development
Degraded some to look like white elephants
Designated the rest as condemned monuments
In the end he was saddled with two kinds that he didn’t take kindly to
That is how a man left his mother and his father
To be with two birds of a feather
Two rivals of equal violent posture
So trained to trample on his buried treasures
And the two shall torment him forever and ever
