In one long and black October day
In the year of our loss, 2026
Death ran to the stage for a cameo
And with a random pick, plucked
From the tree of life, one of the luscious
And fanciful fruits.
Throwing Nollywood into another
Fit of mourning, and a nation
Into a fresh colour of grief.
Cry? How long shall we cry
Over the demise of our thespians
Who mirror an alternate universe of bliss?
With them we see our lives as creatures
Creating our own realities to challenge
The prevailing menace and stasis.
When art imitates life we learn,
Not life imitating the sorrows of art.
In Frank’s hurting passage, we relearn
The touch of pain and the meanness
Of a death, stilling a pulsating life of promise.
In Frank’s hurting passage, we reel
Not so much from shock but from the message
Of his sojourn in the earth of our living —
The method actor who poured himself
In the movies with all of his being,
Transiting from stage to movies to streaming platforms,
The character actor who lived
In the ambience of the script and sowed
His all to be a revenant shine of light.
The Bamenda-born and Port Harcourt-nurtured actor
Who stole the heart of a nation as Ahanna
And dazzled her like a war hero for three decades
And more, and kept on flaming like a fire.
Rest on.
By Sam Ogabidu