THE WAY WE WERE

Take me home to Alayi,

Where life is cheap and closer

to nature,

Where men and women breathe the

air of quietness and peace,

Where people know when you are hungry and sick.

 

Take me home to Alayi,

Where parents have the will

to control  the atmosphere of the home,

Where each child is a child of the

whole community.

Where children play and race around

unmolested.

 

Take me home to Alayi,

Where the tropic sky blesses each day

with sunshine bright,

Where streams twinkle in broad daylight,

day after day like stars at night,

Where genius and harmony met in the

architectural wonders of Ulo Chukwu-Obiaoma.

 

Take me home to Alayi,

Where tale is a tale of past grandeur

and of a great future,

Where individual rights are vigorously

protected by tradition,

There’s where nothing hinders,

There’s where my dreams can grow,

There is no place I love more than Alayi,

the home of my ancestors.

​

The inclusion of this poem in this textbook ‘THE WAY WE WERE’ is a fulfillment of my promise to my dear friend late Rinkart Eze Okorie.