DISCIPLES TO VICTORY BY AKIN-OJO OLUWASEYI
GENRE: POETRY
TITLE: DISCIPLES TO VICTORY
WRITER: AKIN-OJO OLUWASEYI, NIGERIA
REVIEWER: OMADANG YOWASI, UGANDA
A disciple is a devoted inner follower of a prophet, messenger and any other set dogma or doctrine of a given society. One becomes a disciple to victory when they directly involve themselves in fight for achieving victory.
What, why and who does Oluwaseyi call disciples to victory? Let's see.
Oluwaseyi metaphorically calls trained soldiers "disciples to victory" because in their experience and expertise on the battlefield, they're assured of a deserved victory. He mocks and provokes the other warring faction to attempt an attack on them so that they can be able to feel their trained men. These "trained men" in the poem have been shaped to live in any condition as the poet metaphorically says:
"//valiant lions in any den//"
Due to previous attacks and atrocities committed on the persona's community, they (we) have decided to pick men and trained them into "disciples" to bring about victory and stop the vices their people have been subjected to especially the vulnerable like women and children taken into captivity.
The poem sheds bits of hope that with the newly trained men, the community will no longer fall for aggression. The persona can now boast of extra strength and decisive victory should they be invaded, and so they warn:
//After the battle, your remnants would understand//
The poem has quite a number of devices like repetitions for words like trained, our men all for emphasis to show that they're no longer joking and taking matters lightly. They're now prepared for an invasion.
There's an understatement in the line
//come at us, you epic enemies//
The personas are now undermining and reducing their former tormentors to mere jokers who can't sustain war or even just a skirmish.
Rhymes are also used in the poem, though some are forced rhymes.
The title of this poem reveals devoted and well prepared men ready to bring victory at the end of it all.