THE CURSE OF THE METALLIC BIRD

PICTURE SHOWING THE TAIL END OF A COMMERCIAL AIRLINER
Courtesy: http://en.wikipedia.org


THE CURSE OF THE METALLIC BIRD

You were the pride of a nation,
Ghana Airways was your name,
You ferried Ghanaians and other nationals
To the shores of Ghana and beyond.


You glided effortlessly through the skies,
Kingly, simply majestic,
You were our Pegasus in the sky.
The clouds were your palanquin,
You rode them like a battle-hardened warrior
Brisk and efficient,
A bird of colour.
At the sight of you,
We all swelled up with pride
Turning different shades of red gold green
Pupils embossed with a black star in the middle.


You carried the name Ghana on your metallic wings,
Painting foreign skies
With in red, yellow, green
The black star of Africa taking centre stage.


You blanketed the skies
With your royal frame,
How majestic,
Like a king in full regalia
On the eve of an African festival.


Sadly, your feathers lost their luster,
Your glory soon faded away,
The gleam in your eyes replaced by disaster,
Our Ghanaian bird soon drew last breath,
You were shot down by arrows
Mismanagement,
Apathy,
Indifference
Greed and many more.


Our metallic pride soon retired,
Never to be seen by the people again.
You were no longer to paint the skies
Red yellow and green,
The black star, forever extinguished.


All that remains are
Mementos with Ghana Airways
Beautifully engraved on them
Being a constant reminders of
A metallic bird forever lost.


Then came Ghana International Airlines,
A new bird, a new era
Seeking to revive a predecessor’s lost legacy,
With much fanfare and partying
Your birth heralded a new dawn.


The dawn of new beginnings
With lessons from the past so many
Being a guide to a future wondrously bright.
You began slowly
Yet you bore so much promise,
We all felt safe in the bossom of this Ghanaian bird.


Gradually, you inspired confidence,
Soon, you began your ascent
A prince walking in his father’s stead
On a journey to discover a father’s lost throne.
G.I.A. you were affectionately called,
The new Ghanaian air carrier for all and sundry.


We all looked on with bated breath,
We feared the worst
Yet we wished you well,
The demise of your predecessor
Still fresh in our memories
The painful death of our majestic bird.


All too soon came the curse of the Ghanaian bird,
Now G.I.A limps along the tarmac
With broken wings.
Cobwebs now seem your steady wings
A flight of doom on tattered wings.
You no longer inspire confidence,
Now everytime you take flight, we fear the worst,
We fear that just might be your swan song
We shudder
Seeing tell-tale signs of a second coming
The burial of our second bird in the offing
Will we ever shake the curse of the metallic bird
At this rate, we just might need a cemetery for our birds?


For now, you fly on borrowed time,
Borrowed wings
Burdened by a mountain of debt
And a malignant cancer growing everyday.
In no time you just might soon fall
From your heavenly perch,
A wingless bird, a flightless bird
A bird soon headed to the graveyard.


We do not have a body yet
But I foresee an oncoming hearse,
I can see a funeral convoy from afar
Bickering and shifting blame along the potholed road,
Fare thee well our beloved bird,
It was only a matter of time before you met your demise,
Say hi to your father for us all,
We remember the day, Ghana Airways fell.


Tell him I still have a spoon with Ghana
Airways carved on the handle
Tell him every year, for him we light a candle.
Here we sit in deathly black,
Mourning a bird that might soon part.
Sorry, but I’m the bearer of bad news,
Our bird just died.
After years in a coma,
It finally fell of its perch late last night.
Welcome to the funeral of our heavenly bird
Welcome to Ghana,
The graveyard for metallic birds.