"Today-for tomorrow, today becomes yesterday:
How many million promises can ever fill a basket..."
In warning against the extinction of the elephant, Okigbo explains how powerful of a force time really is. Without a thought, the present has become the past. He is concerned that memory will fail people and lead them to behave dishonestly toward nature and the natural harmony of the universe.
"Do you have to fight that war?
Do you have to strap
Assault riffles
And pebbles of bullets?
There are men and women
Trained to fight that war,
You are a town crier."
In this excerpt, Christopher urges his companion to rethink his professional plans. He explains that other people are suited to violence -- too many people. As if prophesying over the man, he tells him that he is destined to be a town crier, a leader like him. Consequently, he must devote himself to more pure pursuits.
"Begone apprentice,
I left my gong and stick
At the sacred grotto
Of Mother Idoto
For you and your ilk
For generations of town criers."
The journey to becoming a crier is a solitary one. Having prepared the way for his apprentice, Christopher leaves him alone, mirroring having abandoned him in the desert earlier. Just as that trial was a preparation for this moment, Christopher has laid plans for the apprentice's entire life. The apprentice is now entering into a well-established legacy of town criers.
"And we are now shadows
That cling to each other,
But kiss the air only."
Describing the distance between him and his lover, the narrator explains that they are reflections of the people they used to be, shadows. They still are trying to function like they used to together, but they are truly alone. Every effort to connect is empty and isolating, yet, desperate to stay together, they keep trying to be intimate.
