BACK GOES THE HUMMINGBIRD

 

The eagle glided and screeched to a halt

Deserting prey to find another course

Alas! King of Aves

Why do you retreat in such haste?

Why do you return in such a hurry?

Hurriedly, it said

“Back goes the hummingbird,

For the flytrap, has from the bowels of its roots

Spawned up the captives it ate for food.

And, yet still, the land is no longer at ease

As there be no sign of peace”

And away, it flew.

 

The hunter ran with his dane gun close at his heels

And the parchments and charms of his divinities

Laid waste on the grounds that bore no game

Alas! King of Men

Why do run?

Why do you retreat in such haste?

Why do you return in such a hurry?

Hurriedly, he told me,

“Back goes the hummingbird

For the hunter has become the hunted

The animals have deployed a conscience

And now, have become generals of revenge

The hands of the clock tick backwards

For the river now flows upward

And there be no sign, of evil to be ‘fore warned

And away, he ran.

 

 

 

A DAY IS COMING

 

A day is coming

When doves shall become vultures

They shall gather and fly as one

And shall pursue the hyenas

Feeding on the carcass of their dying nation

 

A day is coming

When ants shall predate

They shall march the den of the antlion

They shall request and make it pay

For the spilled blood of their comrademen

 

A day is coming

When grasshoppers shall think and say no

to the seductive whispers of idleness

They shall appoint leaders and together bid farewell

To the seasonal hunger of these yesteryears

 

A day is coming

When the hands that welds the sword

Shall cut the head that wears the crown

They shall stitch together the scars,

Self-inflicted when in search

of its elusive golden egg

They shall remove its crown

And make the neck king.

 

A day is coming

Its footsteps, a clanging bell

Ringing alert the drums that roll doom

A day is coming

I hear its footsteps

Crunch the drying grass

With the promise of coming scorch.

 

 

 

About Ojo Oluwagbenga (O!) : O! is a poet, photographer, engineer & digital marketer. He’s a jack of some trades and master of few. Other O! works have appeared in TELL Magazine.