By Biodun Jeyifo
Contronym – a word that can mean exactly opposite things, e g pharmakon, poison and remedy in pharmacology and botany
Bene, you were amazonian
A revolutionary, a warrior
A female revolutionary and warrior
But you were also pharmakon
The poison that is also the cure
The foundation of Botany
The queen of all sciences
Poison cured, neutralized
Bene, warrior and revolutionary
Amazon and pharmakon
The roots of your life
Of your unique selfhood
Amazon and/or pharmakon?
More Amazon than pharmakon
Or more pharmakon than Amazon?
A needless riddle or conundrum!
Among plants and herbs
There are killers and healers
In botany, queen of all sciences,
Knowledge of poison and remedy
Among feminist revolutionaries
You were unique, Bene
Amazon and pharmakon rare Among women as among men
Not all men are warriors
Not all women are healers
Most women and most men
Tread and justify a middle ground
Your unique selfhood stood out
Until the end, Bene
Or close to the end
When the pharmakon stopped
YOU fatefully confronted
Poison without its remedy
You, Bene Madunagu,
Essence of cure for poison!
You seemed to have forgotten
Who you were or had been
And a great mystery arose:
Did you know yourself, Bene?
Did we, your comrades, know?
Amazon and pharmakon together
In your life, did we know,
Truly know, this basis of your life?
We knew, Bene, we knew
Only we had no name for it
We saw Amazon and pharmakon
Separately, not in combination
As we mourn and celebrate
As we commit you to earth, Reclaiming your full legacy
Will begin, Amazon/Pharmakon!
The closing chapter of your life
Will not have the last word, Bene
In full and in celebration
We will reclaim your legacy, Bene!
Bene, Bene, Bene, Bene, Bene
We will not forget you!
We dare not forget you!
Amazon and pharmakon!
Biodun Jeyifo is Emeritus Professor of African and African American Studies and of Comparative Literature at Harvard University, USA.
