Ek naflu giborim vayobdu cle milhamah
[In memoriam: Reverend Togamau Nepo,
Malua 1977-1980, Afega 1981 -1997]
Several times since your passing have I rehearsed
the ancient cry of royal lament in memoriam -
ek naflu giborim vayobdu cle milhamah
men of might! implements of war! forsaken in the heights
of favour - several times poignant of the watch
of life thrown our way by the inexactitudes,
the apparentness of my destiny is to question
why you have fallen, ek naflu giborim? I remember
Our meeting at the unfurling of the Euangellion - at its vortex
Jerusalem became reconstituted - the signature of Ixthus
was carved where the road curved away from the pulu trees
into the Mediterranean clime, and you -you ploughed the waves
to plant justice, preferring the seed that fell on rocky ground
The universalist in your step detested the straitened paths
at Malua, to find the meaning of the corinthian controversy
that split the Church - you said here lies the scourge of our age
The aplomb and the ceremonial synopsis of consensus
you found dispicable for lapsed conscience the protocol of discipleship marked for you and I, omericly of this age
of upturned faces corrupted in the edenic parable
you fathomed the mythical Edith in the beginning and not Eve
you made us drink from the optimism of the Suffering Servant
your style reminiscent of the power coming in the anastacia -
and I - I walked the stones painted at the outskirts of Gnosis
Ek! the utopian memoir of the Shibboleth shift - heaven
dawn contradiction - morning anguished of essence - life
lay burning - only the ancient cry of royal dereliction suffices
hare bagilboa al tal veal matar aleichum
for neither dew nor rain any more captures the way
the dilemma of that early February break of day defined
the semantics of our presence - now only in utterance:
Ha-Cabod! Shekinat Ha-Shem! Our stance
In Tanumafili
Ebbed as your breath reached no more into the deep
instead frothing thinly on your lips - effervescent of meanings
droplets of life lost in the crevasses - only the life of fools
gelled anymore in the heat of your passing at the third watch - Tanumafili wept, Ek naflu giborim vayobdu cle milhamah
How! have you fallen, mighty men! the implements of war
return no more in the hand of the mighty, your sword your word
beckon not anymore
No bells tolled your passing, no sound portend the time
instead the winds of life escape the windowless vastness
of this fabled homeland - I watched the tell tale hue of dawn
turn into a bloody encounter, sacrilege of the inner sanctum,
ek naflu giborim betok ha milhamah - How!
Aiga Sa Gauifaleai failed the hour surfeitly, opened ranks,
the standard of Gatoa’itele half masted in the dawning mist -
the staff of Tuisamau decadent in this epitaph of shame
Your passing augments not so well anyone anymore: Aiga Sa Gauifaleai is forever marked in the din of battle, Tuisamau mourns the tragedy that silenced Vagana, the bells that toll the sack
of Tanumafili cling to the rafts forfeit its tune forever issue
no sound - I remember our becoming so well, so dim your passing makes - our parting as heirs of the ancient farewell of royals,
comforts, tsar-li aleyka ahi, implements of war shorn on the ramparts, lost no longer to adorn the emblem of Aiga Sa Gauifaleai
At Malua today
I saw you briefly in the aftermath of the Merib at the Arabah, the Maasim of the evening march as usual dressed in the prophetic garb of the Upper Estuary in the manner of one so near so far
I stood where we used to stand at the western wheel of the Gilgal, so real so true of the Barthian orthodoxy - then the Recem and the Suse Esh came between you and I - to think you exist the Descartes Fellowship- to say fare thee well again, my friend - Shalom haberi,
Reverend Togamau Nepo,
The years are long to the morning of our last watch, so brazenly, so clearly and so well have I enjoined the loss, so sadly in your memoriam, hare bagilboa, al tal weal matar aleichum
ki sham nig’al magen hagiborim
ek naflu giborim betok hamilhamah
tsar-li aleyka ahi
ek naflu giborim vayobdu cle milhamah,
T S Malifa
Malua