Frederick Kwesi Great Agboletey
Magnus Sjölander – A Swede –
Capture in the one man endearing essence
of a nation, in one name a symbolic revelation -
A wholesome Swede mighty and rugged
Like a fine specimen of famed giant elk
Amidst dense and lush fir forests,
He sniffs, snorts and struts with a silent profundity prodigious in its ease
of assertive strength,
“This is my domain” – body speak of a giant at ease
Stalwart Swede of icy steel, he stands, bald, among a sea of dark hairs
Supervising fray of furious frenetic befuddlement of ordered chaos-
A mirrored reflection of fierce Vikings of yore
Becalmed in his era yet in still
reflection of time’s mirror streaming impassive time
He who has traversed great distances to these far ends
Of worlds in worlds, oceans of destiny stretching unto infinity
He stands a head taller above all in his presence
A reincarnation of ages past, a great wild man on a distant shore of some
unknown land seeking obvious
His sturdy bravery a shawl of soul as thick animal fur slung across his shoulder
His great sword streaks lightning and his club bears down with thunder as
in times gone by –
A calm soul of studious reserve
With infinite resolve plucking specks of creativity
Trusting amidst wisdom’s storms blazing in furious unleashed fields
of energy all encircling
Puny man looking awe struck, lost before these galactic flows mighty of wisdom’s
uncontained power in fierce some display
What but cold icy bravery can reach into these mighty streaks of lightning
and pluck a mite of intellect
Ye rugged Swede of sturdy intellect in calm composure amidst frenzied strife
for progress
Amidst blinding light of furious storms did you touch wisdom’s stone?
Words in gentle reverberation of calm confidence
A man at ease in his domain
This Swede astride Stockholm’s great inner city
City upon mighty sea, streaming watery sunlight on a clear day
City sitting astride many waters;
Passing worlds streaming through your water world set upon a sea in these
northern reaches
From his vantage point of resolute observation he reviews passing world
Like ancient Pharos’ lighthouse abreast Alexandra’s port
Mighty giant set in stone, ego bigger than mighty sea stretching before your
arrogant sight of disdain
Light of northern posts sweeping earth caught in storms of change unyielding
–
A traveller through far and distant places through time
In paths far from known tracts he carves a lasting influence,
A steely soul of quiet reserve
Jerusalem’s tempered steel clasped in ice cold Nordic mythic winter’s
hands
A flash of lightening amidst tremulous thunder rumbling
His cold blue eyes mirror a depth of human understanding prodigious –
Nordic tongue of stale taste
Sporting forth far off Asia’s spiced variegation of unknown phrases hitherto unheard
Calm resolve of reservation through many dark and long winters’s
Patient’s triumph in humanity of calm composure rendered
Deceptive waters of calm surface raging in torsion wrenching torrents beneath
Words in gentle cadence barely a breeze over still lakes
Each a weighty reminder of great wisdom unheralded, yet defining –
II
Traveller through time and far flung places
You step on crunching salt in China’s desert wastes
You walk through fiery heat of Atacama Desert
You break neither a sweat nor spurt
In your determined course for a goal long defined
You see places many never known of
Your heart is a man’s heart, reaching out to lift many fallen on life’s
rugged paths –
Strength of lone ranger undeterred
Tower of moral integrity in morale morass of a world in need of salvaging
You who dwell on roof of world
Your cities a set amidst icy havens
These snows are a perfect colour of white
Yet your bleached coasts and whitened towers are hardly fleck free
Your whitest were as a smear of enthralling butter on toast to a hungry man
You feeder of multitudes how you hunger –
Sharing your bread without dyspeptic bleariness of insufficiency
In a land of bleached cleanliness
Reflecting idealisms in its subtle flow
A sedated strength pulling-
Mighty men, giants, bivouacked in tiny tents
Set amidst a pine forest of severest winter
Your heads cooking by heating pots of ideas boiling,
Your feet freezing, exposed, perfection incomplete in realisation
Your middle registering discomfort of growling emptiness
Ever ready to move on to new battles
Your world into worlds pushes you, seeking
Thor’s heaven of roasting pork after melee bravura a worthy end-
It’s no secret we take to the fray what we bear in us
Here are no fiery incantations to boil blood to fire
No driving tam tam beaten to frenzy turning limbs to steel
Just sedate, calm composure, of enlightened minds in self control,
Barely a ruffled feather, when nostrils flare pale shade of red in subdued
anger
Yet, how tumultuous inner strife
Of hungry souls sated on blood of ignorant innocent
Thy gentle soul belie a raging insatiable lust barely contained, never quite
breaking, ancient waves regular-
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