Dramatic poem with African sayings, Proverbs, and expressions

AGELESS: The classic dramatic poem performed in three languages

INTRODUCTION TO AGELESS - (SKIP TO POEM)

by Oliver Mbamara, Esq.
In Africa, Asia, South America, and many other countries, Old age is synonymous with wisdom about life and things of the world, hence Old men are revered for their wisdom and weathered life.
This poem though not opposing the above fact however seeks to point out the following:
(I) Awareness or realization is not entirely dependent upon Physical age.
(2) Truth could be revealed by/through anyone and most times from the unexpected (Golden tongue wisdom and waking dreams for example).
(3) We have all lived before this lifetime, and most of our kids and relations today were perhaps then our elders, parents, siblings or other form of relatives and vice versa.
(4) If we are willing and able to look beyond the illusion of physical age or appearance, we could better accept truth and understand the physical world (earth) for what it is - a place we come and go in the preparatory and purification journey of soul back to the Godhead, the Kingdom of GOD (raising the issue of life as a perpetual balancing of account)
(5) All SOULS are equal and ageless.

Oliver Mbamara, Esq, performs the hit dramatic poem - Ageless

Oliver Mbamara, Esq. performing the classic dramatic poem - "Ageless."

'AGELESS,' THE HIT DRAMATIC POEM
THAT INSPIRED THE MUSICAL DANCE DRAMA - FLAME OF LOVE

VERSE 1
(An elderly man appears with a stick in hand, stooping and slightly limping in his walk.)

"From the highlands of the other continent
I have come,
Elderly and aged with the world."

"........did I hear you ask;
What has age got to do with it ?
(Bursts into a wild laughter) Hahahaha!
(And then stops abruptly)
If you notice not my gray hair,
And observe not the wrinkles on my face,
How about my stooped and staggering walk?
Well, I have seen things and heard things
Hence I can boast of wisdom,
And I guess you envy my age."
(Stops to listen to the voice of children
coming from somewhere around)

"Kids and children!
What do they know ?
What have they seen ?
Just beginning!
Playing away their time,
They know not yet of the shortness of time,
Reasons for wise men like me around.
In my wisdom, I should advice them.
Just a moment !"
(Walks off to attend to children)

VERSE 2
(Comes back, upset by the children)
"Naughty kids!
Claiming they know what they do,
They allege I have lived my life
And ought to let them live theirs.
Kids and Children indeed.
Wallowing in that ignorance,
Significant with the newness of age.
No! In my wisdom, I should correct them.
Just another moment!"
(Walks off again to attend to children)

VERSE 3
(Comes back upset by the children)
"Can you believe that ? Can you imagine that?
That the looks of my face and appearance are deceptive;
That my kind of knowledge and wisdom are illusionary;
That there exists a kind of knowledge and wisdom
Much much more transcendental,
Much much more worthy and rewarding,
Something about a spiritual experience ...,
To see ...to know.....and....To be!
Unbelievable ! Yes, unbelievable, I say."

VERSE 4
(Pauses for a moment, hesitates, reflects, and)
"This is tricky and smacks of blasphemy.
Coming from kids and children
Whose fathers and mothers, I betrothed in marriage,
Kids and Children whose pregnancies I witnessed
Kids and children to whose deliveries I contributed,
Now teach me the truth of life
Insisting that they have lived before
Once as my parents and I then as their kid,
What irony! Yes What irony, I say."

VERSE 5
(Again, pauses for a moment, hesitates, reflects, and)
"But they seem so sure of what they say
And seem to know even more than I think."

(Starts again as if waking from sleep or a dream)
"No! I insist and resist the urge to believe my ears,...No!
But again this might be God speaking to me ,
Perhaps with an open heart and a listening ear
I might hear this kids out
And reap from their tongues
Regardless of the peculiarity .
But what about my honor and respect?
What about my pride and status in society?"
(Pauses for a moment, hesitates, and reflects as
the kids quickly come around him.)

VERSE 6
KID 1: "Bother not about your age or status".

KID 2: "For you are simply SOUL and all souls are equal and ageless".

KID1: "Physical age has little or nothing to do with spiritual truth".

ELDER: (Tries to protect his ego, but ends up stammering)
"II want to bbebelieve you ...,
...but not here in public.
Take me away to some private place,
And teach me more."

END

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