A Tribute To Bate Besong, the Fallen Hero

Sarah Anyang

BB! I call you "EKINNI ACWHINGBE"-
The crying voice of the Ngbe Cult.
So your last outing
Was yesterday?
Your book launch
was your final  exit!
Indeed a small soldier ant
has bitten my mouth,
Ayo me! Death indeed is a thief!
May you step on faeces and not on thorns.
"Ekinni", Neko piti piti!!!

Comments

[Mado Atogho]

BB? Dead? Its so hard to believe.When i heard the news, i was left speechless.BB you were so full of life, energy and hope. Hope for the future, hope for UB, hope for all your students and hope for the nation. Our hope and hero is gone! Even though you are no more, you will for ever be remembered. you will be remembered for the person you are and for the teachings you have implanted in the minds of million.The warrior is gone. who will fight the battle? you were the voice for the voiceless. Let the fire continue to burn in you were ever you are.
I remember the role i played in your "once upon great lepers". you are such a wonderful mentor and friend.you will always be remembered
Adieu BB

[Polycarp NGUFOR FORKUM]

BB when i think of you it judt as if you will still be part of our may literary come together in Yaounde 1. What really happened.Dr Ambe you promised giving me an asignment here in Pretoria. Is this the assignment.Ni Gwangwa it is too much for me to bear.
What will your students do?
What becomes the fate of Cameroon theatre?
Pease give us answers.
I dont accept what i hear.
may your souls and those of the faithfully departed rest in peace.

[Florence Lum]

THREE AT A TIME

Oh brothers… sisters…
The storm ... the ferocious storm has done it again!
Look at my eyeballs are they red or white?
Touch my chest, check my blood pressure
You don’t need any medical equipment to check
My pulse, use the hand God gave you

Never did bees sting me in the face in a stormy weather
This is not the first time our precious home has suffered loss
Neither is it the second or third time it has happened
But it’s the first time for us to see three trees fall in one compound
Without prior warning...what a vacuum!
What should we do? Where is our sweet voice?

Don’t stare at me as if you don’t understand!
Don’t tell me you have a mouth and voice box because
They are remote controlled by your intestine
Don’t tell me you have eyes because your never used them.
The pillars of drama; the critical eye and voice have been snatched
And swept away by the ferocious storm.

This time three at a time,
I have heard stories about silent storm, unexpected thieves,
God’s time, and the journey to the world beyond, some
People call it the journey to heaven.
In all, I know it is a journey to the spiritual world of perfection
We will miss your human voices but we‘ll always experience
And feel your presence in the literary legacy
Even the gods can’t erase that.

[Samuel Taberem]

The Lion of the tribe of words is Death.

It’s the fourth day today. The King of talk is truly death.
On his way to pick up his visa they were forced with another visa that catapulted them from the quandaries of this world.
In my homage to him a few days to the eighth, I mentioned:
'Your bones will talk from your grave'.
After postage, I mulled over what I had said.
Little did I know a Mephistophelean tragedy was in the brewing between the D’la -Yaoundé Monster kill way.
Ayo me was marooned in the coast of my thoughts when the Venetian blinds parted to reveal battered bodies.
Fallen bloodthirsty angels of accidents,
When will your blood bank be full?
Wretched disgraceful demons
You have made your dinning table on all categories of roads
Good or bad.
But the blood of your victims will catch up with you.
Like the blood of Abel, they are crying from the ground.
Poor Butake!
Why didn’t U counsel BB and crew to fly or take a train?
I am talking piffle.
Did U know? Of course you didn’t.
I know Death.
When it makes no grades in illness or in war front,
Accident is it’s next best alternative.
The valour man of the war of words
The King to the throne of verbosity
The Lion of the tribe of words
The heavy weight wrestler of words
Rest in peace.
BB you saw things the way they were through the prism of your Ghandi goggles.
The Bible commends the respect of human life.
To snatch human life is an assault to the image of God
Because man was created in His image.
Only a recalcitrant entity like death whose cup of iniquity is never full has the draconian courage to do this.
Death you will die
When the trumpet shall sound,
The death in the Lord will rise from their graves.
They will be caught up with the Lord in the clouds.
Death you will die
When the trumpet shall sound.
The lawlessness of your act will be addressed.
Death you will die
When the trumpet shall sound
The Shekinah Glory will be released to rescue the servants of truth from their sleep.
Why do U take prominent people and leave behind a waste of space,
An author of comments like me?
Take them away and
Deprive me of something to make my remarks.
I will still make my observations on your claws
Till you ride down the column of comments to quiet me.
To the bereaved
Take it easy
It’s an unsolicited episode of life that is hard to swallow.
Samuel Taberem - London

[yimbu emmanuel nchia]

bb happens to be my friend and a very intimate one for that matter.unfortunately for me,mbute did not go through to his website.i thus wish to plead that you send me the adress so i can send my tribute. thanks