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Culture Documents
Of
course
he
does.
That
speech
from
Forest
Head
is
the
best
summation
known
to
me
of
a
fundamental
question
in
the
philosophy
of
religion-if
God
exists,
why
does
God
allow
evil
and
suffering?
Soyinka's
work
also
demonstrates
memorable
images.
Some
of
my
favourites
are
from
A
Shuttle
in
the
Crypt.
One
of
them
is
both
a
sequence
of
lines
and
an
image.
"A
choir
of
egrets
servers
at
the
day's
recessional
on
aisles
fading
to
the
infinite"
The
evocation
of
the
procession
of
egrets
in
flight,
visualised
as
mass
servers
in
a
mass
constituted
by
the
solemn
beauty
of
the
setting
sun
at
the
conclusion
of
the
day-
the
poem
elsewhere
likens
the
sun
to
a
communion
wafer-the
egrets
again
likened
to
a
progression
extending
into
infinity,
is
magnificent
in
its
capturing
in
a
few
lines
the
experience
of
nature
in
a
moment
of
wonder.
All
the
more
remarkable
in
that
this
sacramental
perception
of
nature
takes
place
from
within
a
prison
cell,
in
Soyinka's
18
month
imprisonment
during
the
Nigerian
Civil
War.
Another
wonderful
image
is
from
The
Man
Died.
It
is
the
image
of
a
blank
sheet
of
paper
through
which
Soyinka
evokes
primal
beginnings
in
his
exhilaration
at
receiving
fresh
sheets
of
paper
after
long
starvation
of
means
of
writing
while
in
prison.
The
sheet
of
paper
becomes
for
him
like
the
tender
scent
of
a
beloved
niece,
the
marvellous
sight
of
shore
by
a
person
long
adrift
at
sea
,
and
leads
into
his
great
meditation
on
emptiness
as
a
condition
enabling
existence,
a
meditation
best
appreciated
in
relation
to
his
presentation
of
another
meditation
on
the
subject
in
A
Credo
of
Being
and
Nothingness
and
which
be
better
understood
in
relation
to
his
concept
of
the
abyss
of
transition,
the
space
or
process
of
becoming
that
links
emergence,
dissolution
and
re-
emergence,
expanding
his
original
depictions
of
this
idea
in
terms
of
birth,
death
and
rebirth
and
the
living,
the
ancestors,
and
the
unborn,
derived
from
Yoruba
cosmology
and
correlative
with
other
cosmologies
that
either
believe
in
reincarnation
or
like
the
Catholic
concept
of
the
Communion
of
Saints,
believe
in
the
idea
of
a
bond
or
traffic
of
one
kind
or
another
between
life
on
earth
and
life
after
departure
from
the
earth.
Olohun
Iyo
as
the
Alaafin
urges
Elesin
to
send
emissaries
if
he
cannot
come-
'If
you
cannot
come
send
my
horse
if
you
cannot
come
send
my
dog
they
will
lead
me
through
the
gates
alone'
Elesin
insists
that
he
is
indeed
coming.
Olohun
Iyo
bursts
into
into
a
frenzy
of
praise-
'Shall
I
tell
what
my
eyes
have
seen?
shall
I
tell
what
my
ears
have
heard?
He
marks
Elesin's
deepening
movement
into
trance-
'Are
the
drums
on
the
other
side
tuning
skin
to
skin
with
ours
at
Osugbo
[
a
place
of
ritual
conclave]?'
'Do
the
sounds
of
gbedu
[
a
kind
of
drum]
cover
you
then
like
the
sounds
of
royal
elephants?
is
there
a
light
at
the
end
of
the
tunnel
a
light
I
dare
not
look
upon
do
you
see
those
whose
touches
are
often
felt
whose
wisdoms
come
suddenly
to
the
mind
when
the
wisest
have
shaken
their
heads
and
uttered
'it
cannot
be
done?'
'
Recalling
these
lines
has
an
effect
on
me
like
participating
in
a
delicately
but
deeply
emotive
ritual.
Other
remarkable
lines
from
the
same
play
'the
river
is
never
so
high
that
the
eyes
of
a
fish
are
covered
the
night
is
never
so
dark
that
the
albino
fails
to
find
his
way
home[
since
his
light
coloured
skin
will
provide
illumination]
.
Good
writing
leaves
its
imprint
on
the
minds
of
readers,
particularly
if
the
readers
are
receptive.
The
quotes
in
this
piece
may
at
times
be
imprecise
since
they
are
written
from
memory.