The Not-I Bird (After Wole Soyinka’s Poem in DEATH AND THE KING’S HORSEMAN)

Artist: Moyo Okediji

Title: The Not-I Bird (After Wole Soyinka’s Poem in DEATH AND THE KING’S HORSEMAN)

Wole Soyinka: The Not-I Bird

“Not-I became the answering-name

Of the restless bird, that little one

Whom Death found nesting in the leaves

When whisper of his coming ran

Before him on the wind. Not-I

Has long abandoned home. This same dawn

I heard him twitter in the gods’ abode.” (1.32)

“I, when that Not-I bird perched

Upon my roof, bade him seek his nest again,

Safe without care or fear. I unrolled

My welcome mat for him to see. Not-I

Flew happily away, you’ll hear his voice

No more in this lifetime—You all know

What I am.” (1.34)

Taken from Wole Soyinka, Death and the King’s Horseman.