Ochi-ala! Ochi-eze!! Hahaha!!!

After teasing me, each time we met, he would chant those phrases. And laugh with that sound of a golden voice, which exhibited streams of satisfaction and pureness of source. You could clearly have felt it. His laughter streamed from a pure heart. Those who sang with him as fellow choristers could tell you even more, as they would agree with me as regards the sound of his laughter and the effect it had on the recipients. He illuminated a force that could not be possibly described. Not in his mammoth achievements, but in his everyday life, as a friend, a lover of music, a doctor, a family elder, a village-man who loved his palm oil stew, and as an active chorister till his last day. In that way he left a light behind that will lighten our paths for many years into the future. Illuminating the words of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, the American Poet who said; ‘When a great man dies, for years the light he leaves behind him, lies on the paths of men.’

To this cause I dedicate ‘A beautiful mind’ to him! [please see endnote].

 

I never stammer when I sing - he would say, it’s the beauty of music that calms all earthly strives within the mind - because I breathe. I would breathe, today, when I need to glide through any huddle life presents me.  He was an inspiration in the many ways to both young and old.  And so, did J.R.R. Tolkien, wrote, in one of his Lord of the Rings series; ‘The Fellowship of the Ring’: “I wish it need not have happened, "said Frodo. "So do I," said Gandalf, "and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for us to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.” I never had the guts to call him by his first name. Although I had a feeling, he wouldn’t mind.  It’s definitely not the way we approach our elders, but surprisingly not even the way, those who could have been allowed by tradition to call him by his name would have approached him. For everyone called him; ‘Dr. Ogan’. He was ‘the doctor’ of Ogan-Ama. Although we have other doctors, medical and academic, Uncle George Ibiene, was ‘the one’ referred by everyone as ‘Dr. Ogan’. He has inspired so many, both great and small. We will miss him dearly, but he has left deep foot prints on the sands time, that even great waves history cannot wipe away.

 

Uncle, God be with you till we meet again.

From; Deinsosam, Da’tokoni, Sally & Deinsam Ogan,
for the family of:
Ven. & Mrs. Sam Dan Ogan _[JP]

Goodnight… Baba! Baba!! Baba!!!

End-note:

A Beautiful Mind [A dedication to Dr. G. I. Ogan]

Stop whispering such things to me_

For, like sounds, you’re not even real,

How dare you say a thing to me;

Merely to give me a crushed thrill?

 

Greatness within a big brave heart

And with such a beautiful mind

Are thrust on those who hit the dart

And the bull’s eye, in life they find.

 

They light the touch in their earth-race

With honesty and pride, they stride;

Lightening the path for us to pace

And with humility, they glide.

 

Stop whispering hope chants to me_

For those are their favourite psalms.

How dare you say ‘they die’ to me?

When they pass-on to higher realms!

©_D. D. Ogan-25022015          

[Alternative Tune: Angelus – A&M 20]

A Tribute to ‘the Doctor’ By: Deinsam Ogan