Knowing robs us of wonder. Had it not ripped apart the fearful robes of primordial Night to steal the force that crafted horns on doghead and sowed insurrection overnight in the homely beak of a hen; had reason not given us assurance that day will daily break and the sun's array return to disarm night's fantastic figurations-- each daybreak would be garlanded at the city gate and escorted with royal drums to a stupendous festival of an amazed world. One day after the passage of a dark April storm ecstatic birds followed its furrows sowing songs of daybreak though the time was now past noon, their sparkling notes sprouting green incantations everywhere to free the world from harmattan death. But for me the celebration is make-believe; the clamorous change of season will darken the hills of Nsukka for an hour or two when it comes; no hurricane will hit my sky-- and no song of deliverance.
		Use of this excerpt from Another Africa by Robert Lyons and Chinua Achebe may be made only for purposes of promoting the book, with no changes, editing, or additions whatsoever, and must be accompanied by the following copyright notice: Photographs and Photographer's Note copyright © 1998 Robert Lyons; Essay and Poems copyright © 1998 Chinua Achebe. All rights reserved. Chinua Achebe photo credit © Stephen Long