The School By The Moat Poem by Uche Nwanze

The legend of boys who turned men
A story of mortals who became angels
Of kids who became giants
Began they their pilgrimage from the four ends of the earth
From Ahaba to Ani idu, under the bridge in Eko to the banks of the River Niger, from the trenches of the caliphate to the creeks of the Niger delta
Sojourned they from their various huts and their rendezvous was the school by the Moat
A citadel in the ancient city of great Kings who once walked the terrestrial
They throng the ivory tower the part to Olympus
A fortress that shaped them into gods
The stakes high like the blue skies
No place for faint hearts
And Patrick Kelly sowed the seed, in silence blossomed into a sequoia tree
Under the patronage of the Immaculate Virgin
The tour guards, J Donnelly, Emunwen, Itotoh, Asenime, Oke
Boys under apprenticeship to be like their benevolent tutors
Groomed and drilled , they pass the test through the crucible they are forged
Their mission, to lead them from groping in darkness to illumination
Their hearts of flesh washed spotless like their Immaculate uniforms
Fed with wisdom with pride they carry in their pouch
On a marathon from College house, to Kizito, on a march from Mulumba to Porres
Rain Rain, Sunshine never never meet their chorus ascend the heavens
Drank they from the waters of tolerance, they pilgrim from cage block to Akenzua 11
The myth of the bush baby pales but not into oblivion
The whip and the chalk, their elixir
Backs broken, cracks but no quacks
Their bones never to be broken
On the plough they set their hands
They stand for God and His glory
Against His foes they raise a standard
Everywhere they remain faithful
And the school still sits majestic on the moat
The cynosure for mortals to see even the ageless Sun green with envy.