Dawn is all yours my son to readjust your sail and achieve
more than Columbus,
It’s all yours, my son, to readjust your power and achieve
more than caeser,
It’s yours, my son, to learn the follies and mistakes
of the greatest men.
Where they failed and missed it,
Where they rushed and missed it,
What they feared that ruined them,
Where they ruled and missed it,
Where they searched that wrecked them,
Who they rushed that drowned them,
Dawn is all yours my son.
Dawn is all yours to correct their follies,
To correct what they couldn’t,
To achieve their daydreams,
To achieve what they chased to fall,
To achieve what they labelled impossible,
You’ve all dawn to yourself to achieve your dreams.
Dawn is all yours to make the best choices,
To achieve what they died chasing,
Where they cracked you must remain firm,
Where they lost you must win,
Where they doubted you must proceed.
Dawn is all yours, my son, to perfect your sails and achieve more
Than Mungo and Langley,
It’s yours to learn the greatest secrets,
To be stronger than their weaknesses,
You’ve all dawn to yourself to achieve
Your dreams.
Dawn is yours to understand why
the best of the best fretted,
it’s yours to arrange history into its
hierarchies and succession,
it’s yours to learn what history wrote
under the premises of defeated warriors,
under the battles of vanquished legends,
under the feet of the finest men.
Dawn is yours to excavate the ancient
ruins of Babylon,
It’s yours to excavate the ancient
force of Egypt,
It’s yours to discover how the Romans fell,
How the Hanging Gardens of Babylon disappeared
Never to be seen again.
Dawn is yours to read what history
has carefully kept, guarded, nursed inside
ancient papyrus,
it’s yours to study what history carefully
published,
to study what history wrote under their
feet and shoulders as they missed it,
to study what history wrote under their
armies as they missed it,
to unravel the follies of ancient Romans.
Dawn is yours, my son, to adjust your sail and achieve
more than Judas,
It’s yours, my son, to adjust your sail and achieve
more than Hitler,
It’s yours to learn why history published
their stories,
It’s yours to learn why history published
their follies,
to learn the errors in their power,
to learn the blunders in their thunder
and achieve what they missed.
It’s yours to correct their madness,
To profit from their trivialities,
To profit from their vices,
To correct what they buried,
To correct what they covered.
Dawn is all yours to grow,
To learn how deception ruined achievement,
To learn how seduction ruined greatness,
To learn how temptation ruined victory.
Why they fret you must know,
Why they rushed you must know,
Where they seized you must speed,
To learn how friendship ruined achievement,
To learn how courtship ruined greatness.
Where they died you must resurrect,
Where they drowned you must float,
To learn how snares ruined achievement,
To learn how allurement ruined greatness.
Dawn is all yours, my son, to readjust your sails
and achieve more than
Alexander the great who cried when he wrecked himself,
To learn how pride ruined men,
To learn how power wrecked men,
To achieve more than violence,
To achieve more than vanity,
You’ve all dawn to achieve your dreams.
Paul Oluwafemi David is a Nigerian Scientist, philosopher and poet. He’s a student of the art of Professor Wole Soyinka and Ben Okiri. Currently, he’s a student doctor at the college of human medicine UNN. He has been published in Afrikana, African Writer, Bangalore Review, Kalahari Review, Nantygreens, Pride Nigeria, Praxis, Three Drops, Poetry Life and Times, Tuck, Words and The Muse. He was longlisted for October30Fest humanitarian Prize, 2018 Best New African Poets, Bodies and Scars anthology by Ghana Writes Literary Group. He’s the author of Beautiful Things Flower in the Rain published by a New York Press.