Triad_Songs of Redemption: Unpublished poem by Gideon Samuel

Triad_Songs of Redemption is a poem written by Gideon Samuel, a student of English and literary studies, University of Uyo, Akwa Ibom, Nigeria. 

Samuel hails from Uyo local government area, Akwa Ibom State. Nigeria, born 20 June 200. He exhibited interest in arts particularly literature right from a very young age. For him, the place of literature and other forms of writings in reigniting the almost lost scholarly fire among Nigerian students cannot be undermined. Triad_Songs of Redemption is Samuel's first work.

Inspiration

The inspiration behind the poem stems from the felt need to give a concise account of man's journey with the Trinity right from the disobedience and overwhelmed with the joy of Christmas. Triad_Songs of Redemption was written on a Christmas Eve, 2018 and rendered in a local church the following day.

Preface

 The poem follows an order of hopelessness in "Despondency", doom in "Darkness" and redemption in "Morning sets". Divided into three parts, the poem chronicles man's experience of despondency in the immediate aftermath of Adam's sin, the darkness which existed prior to Christ's coming and a new dawn after the advent of Christ.

Thus, the character "Apollyon" is a biblical allusion drawn from Revelation 9:11 which represents Satan. The characters "Despondency" and "Fear" are harnessed to depict Satan's workmen on earth while the "Morning" represents Jesus Christ and portrays him as the light which came to obscure darkness.

PART ONE: DESPONDENCY

Despondency roars:
Amidst cries of hopeless children,
Fear barks.

Fear and Despondency had Apollyon vomited.
And Despondency hovered round the deep,
In the hearts of children had Despondency thrusted:
Therein:

Spilling blood;
Blood of hope;
Hope of redemption;
Redemption of lost souls;

Then came a voice:
Fear is sound;
Yet drums nothing but sounds;
Into our hitherto unyielding minds;
Sounds of deceit;
Deceit of looming doom.

PART TWO: DARKNESS

beneath the valley of despair,
I hear clanking of swords;
In a melee over our drenched souls.
I hear the crumbling of thundered waters;
The groaning of troubled hearts.

Between Despondency and Fear,
Had coition ensued.
Despondency is heavy:
Darkness is hatched

Weep, children, weep.
For I hear echoes and pants of the enemy, Racing near.
Alas, Darkness is here;
Made of lies and cemented with sin;
Whose parts are as Apollyon did frame.

With Darkness comes abyss,
Armed with the wrong end of sin's sword.
Weep, children, weep,
Weep for gloom is here,
Weep and sleep to wake eternally.

PART THREE: MORNING SETS

I hear a voice;
Cry out;
Like that of a woman in labour troubled:
Son, weep no more.

I wake to see the morrow,
Morning sets;
Darkness is obscure;
Morning had never been brighter.

On the hills, I see,
I see children rejoice in their numbers;
Like grasses;
Bound by the garble of love:
Jesus Christ.

Themes

1. Hopelessness Vs doom: The theme of despair and dejection is evident from the very outset in line one, two and three. The first poem offers a glimpse at the hopeless state of the human race in terms of man's relationship with the Supreme deity. The first poem presents mankind in a dire situation deriving from losing hope of redemption. The thematic line follows logically into the second poem "Darkness". Here, a gloomy situation is captured where man seems to have eventually lost all hope with the arrival of darkness.          

1. Redemption: In the third poem, the morning which is a representation of Jesus Christ has come to put daylight between mankind and darkness. Here, light is captured as possessing innate preponderance over darkness. Thus, light has come to restore man to his previous situation of tranquillity with the Supreme order.

Tone and Diction

The issue of diction as it regards poetry has never really been in contention. Poetry as a matter of necessity must be rendered in figurative language. However, to attract wide readership, the language of the poem has been considerably degraded. It should be noted that the poem was written as a Christmas piece for a wide age range. This explains the very limited use of literary devices evident in it.
Tone wise, the poem is set in tandem with its themes. In "Despondency", the poem sets out on a frightening pitch which gradually leads to a saddened mood in stanza two. In the second poem "Darkness", the tone of the poem would suggest a dead-end for mankind. It depicts fright which derives from the lost hope of salvation. In poem three, the tone is way brighter. There is a mood swing from sorrow to joy resulting from the advent of the light.