by Ify Omalicha Agwu
The stars did not come
We began to chant and clap
The praises of the crescent
That the moon would not shut her eyes
At us waiting below the sky
The wind came whistling by
Laughing at our waiting.
If we ask Ogoo
Why the night is strutting by
in the dark
He’ll say the moon and stars
Are gone to the spirit land
To bring us a fortune
on Eke market day.
Now, we wait.
We know not many hidden ways
Lest we find you out
But you must come lighten this sky
That has grown dark with loneliness.
Come listen to our songs
Woven in our web of tales
Telling of births and life
Of yesterdays that never return
Of yesterdays that cling to now
Of todays that lie half-lived without tomorrow
And of many nights of tomorrow
When like Ogoo
We’ll know the ways of the wind and rain
Telling our children to clap and sing
While they wait for you to come to play.
R.I.P Ify Omalicha Agwu
Odinani: The Sacred Arts & Sciences of the Igbo People 
A sweet little piece. I hadn’t hard of her, but it sounds as if I should have.
This reminds me of a snippet of poetry in the book _Alysha’s Fall_ by M.C.A. Hogarth. It’s about a disapora, genetically engineered people leaving Earth for the stars.
My eyes couldn’t stand the wetness that was over bearing it, as I focused my gaze on the picture. Even though I came to know her in person late, our spirits have always communed nonetheless through her poetry. But even more mystically shocking is my discovery that our both’s Chi are descended from one aspect of the almighty Chineke, the Agwu kingdom. And this is were I finally broke down, for I discovered that Ify is just another Okigbo that Igbo people repeatedly failed to save. And essentially, we do not even know it yet. I cannot blame her spotless soul for what happened to her, for Agwu surely knows its own. And it does not play lightly with those who fail to adhere to their call. But it only breaks my heart to know that this Goddess incarnated to us at a time when our people were too lost in the wilderness to even hear her spirited melody. Perhaps if she had been more patient for a few more years, we would have met her spiritual needs. We would have succeeded in clearing a considerable mental space among our people for her to inhabit and give birth to her spiritual fruits here on Earth. Unfortunately, we failed once again, just as we couldn’t resuscitate our spirits enough to have avoided the epic decision of Okigbo, who angrily abandoned us with only a thin volume of poetry that later revealed to be an entire universe of invocations. He himself was also another Nwa Agwu that never actually got to fulfill his call because of the same persisting delusion facing us today in the name of modernity. Hence, another Goddess was here among us but now gone. Because our eyes were too clouded with the dusts of modern life to even see her blazing across the Earth with her basket of gifts. And consequently, she was only able to leave us with her invocative melodies disguised as poetry. Indeed, all children of Light across the Igbo global grid, there is no more doubt that Agwu is impatient with us–and now we must all wake up or there will be more of her kind to be wept for. Myself, still in my turbulent path of appeasing Agwu for my prodigal years, I can imagine what she must’ve went through before finally giving up under the infinitely burdensome weight of an unrealized Agwu. But what can we do but keep our eyes on the loving Sun, and never let Mother Earth loose touch of the soles of our feet. Many of us, however, end up in frustration and easily recourse to the divinely promised chance or reincarnation. There is no iota of doubt that the loss of this Agbala biara uwa na ahu Agwu, Ify Omalicha is a screaming call to all the Igbo children of Light (Umu Ose Obala) whom ever among them that are still roaming the earth under the many spells of modern superficial lore and ignoring the unalienable light in them that must meet its source, so that they would be united with Agwu. There are no choices about these things. We cannot keep loosing our incarnated Gods and Goddesses in such delirious times!!!!! Ala is not happy with us at all, children of light! The message has been delivered. The owners of the message know themselves.