Poem by Gabriel Okara

Once Upon a Time

Once upon a time, son,
they used to laugh with their hearts
and laugh with their eyes:
but now they only laugh with their teeth,
while their ice-block-cold eyes
search behind my shadow.

There was a time indeed
they used to shake hands with their hearts:
but that’s gone, son.
Now they shake hands without hearts
while their left hands search
my empty pockets.

‘Feel at home!’ ‘Come again’:
they say, and when I come
again and feel
at home, once, twice,
there will be no thrice-
for then I find doors shut on me.

So I have learned many things, son.
I have learned to wear many faces
like dresses – homeface,
officeface, streetface, hostface,
cocktailface, with all their conforming smiles
like a fixed portrait smile.

And I have learned too
to laugh with only my teeth
and shake hands without my heart.
I have also learned to say,’Goodbye’,
when I mean ‘Good-riddance’:
to say ‘Glad to meet you’,
without being glad; and to say ‘It’s been
nice talking to you’, after being bored.

But believe me, son.
I want to be what I used to be
when I was like you. I want
to unlearn all these muting things.
Most of all, I want to relearn
how to laugh, for my laugh in the mirror
shows only my teeth like a snake’s bare fangs!

So show me, son,
how to laugh; show me how
I used to laugh and smile
once upon a time when I was like you.

Gabriel Okara

This is the best poem by Gabriel Okara and I like it most. This shows the “Hypocrisy” of modern man. In this poem one grandfather is talking to his grandson and he expresses his felling of ‘Nostalgia’ for past. He tells his son that there was a time when people met each other with hearts, they laugh with their eyes, and they laugh with their teeth. But time has changed. Now people are no more interested to meet someone whole heartedly.   This is very true poem to reality. Society and people around us forced us to become ‘Artificial’ in every stage of life. They taught us how to wear many masks at the same time. This is the most beautiful line,

And I have learned too
to laugh with only my teeth
and shake hands without my heart.
I have also learned to say,’Goodbye’,
when I mean ‘Good-riddance’:
to say ‘Glad to meet you’,
without being glad; and to say ‘It’s been
nice talking to you’, after being bored

 It reminds me the poem ‘Fire and Ice’ by Robert Frost. In which poet said that the days of physical war have gone. Now people fight with “Cold-Blooded Hatred”. People remains good in your presence but inside they have cold blooded hatred for you.

 The last stanza is even more interesting. It represents the idea that children are most innocent in the world. So old man wants to become like a child. And he expresses his wish to ‘Unlearn’ all things that he has learnt. But it’s very difficult for any person to unlearn things and to absorb new knowledge.

At the last I want to give new title to the poem that is “Hypocrisy of Modern Man”.