Review of Incantation By Chris Abani

by Nwuguru Chidiebere Sullivan 

The sacrosanct is that everyone dies. The probability is that not all of us will be cognisant enough to make love of dying, or capture the grace of loss, which is an incomparable gift according to Chris Abani in his poem Incantation. The act of dying could be beautiful and sublime depending on the way we witness it, and in this poem, Abani pictured a man at his point of death and the beauty it was, experiencing that point with love from his daughter.

In Abani’s words, “What words can wrap a dying brother, still dying, even now…” Of course, no amount of tears can wake a dead son, but as much as we are very concerned about the way we live, extending the gust of love to our dear ones who are dying, still dying, could be the greatest gift we can offer them. This, for sure, will go a long way into beautifying the way they die. Oftentimes, we are so concerned about the way we live that we forget the way we die. In this poem, Abani equates the importance of both ways and acknowledges the irreplaceability of the gift of love and attention given to those who are at the point of death, hence, its priceless value.

Thirst makes us vulnerable to water, and in Abani’s words, “thirst is a gift”; one of the two gifts the dying man in the poem had. The second gift is the man’s daughter, the one who surrounded him with love at the point of his death. Importantly, the poet draws us to the significance of the man’s daughter through the following lines; 

“He asks what other gifts God has given him.

I’m your gift, his daughter says from a corner.

And he smiles and rasps—

you can only unwrap a child once.

The rest is prayer and even more prayer.”

Towards the end of the poem, we witness death in a beautiful and subtle manner, the one that occurred with love. This, however, is not always the case in Nigerian society today. Here, most people abandon their loved ones to the misery of life, only to show up after their death to spend huge fortunes in burying them. We tend to spend more in celebrating death than we do in nurturing life. Through this poem, Abani brings us close to the beauty in the equality that should exist in the way we live and die, such that we are able to give our dear ones, the huge gift of love at their point of death as a way we share in the grace of losing them.

The poem is witty and short, a free-verse in form. The poet employed strong metaphors to deliver his message, and this added more directness to his delivery. The poem in itself is of simple and very accessible language with deep layered meanings.

Incantation

What words can you wrap around

a dying brother, still dying, even now.

A man who has not eaten for a month

sips at water and says, even thirst is a gift.

He asks what other gifts God has given him.

I’m your gift, his daughter says from a corner.

And he smiles and rasps—

you can only unwrap a child once.

The rest is prayer and even more prayer.

You sing softly to him in a language

only the two of you speak and he

snores softly into

your palm, breath and blood