Almajiri Poem by Michael Oluwasegun Adesiji

I am Almajiri

The rallying bee
To the food vendors
The undying pest
To the hollow customers

On my wealthy dawn
My belly houses crumbs
Butterflies and sun rays
Towards unseen drums

I am Almajiri

The charming toddler
Who carries the pungent
Elegance of Poverty
While I contain a fountain
Of hunger and thirst
I chase the hills and Mountains
Of a dreary town
As I go heisting
On the grocer's mown

I am Almajiri

The famished crocodile
Who stares at the gullets
Of the feeding folks
Omelets or Oaths
I am always wanting both

I am Almajiri

The juvenile
With the decaying hope
I committed no crime
But, just too many crimes

I am Almajiri

I am the deserted being
Who the chalkboard never finds
Money or food; the Emeralds
I will ever find

I am Almajiri

The aphid to farms
The burglar to bans
The leech to wallets
And the pest to plants

I am Almajiri

Anywhere before the moon
There lives my shelter
The weather finds me a friend
For knowing that of penury

I am Almajiri

A world of solitary
It would have been
If not for the perching flies
Who raids my being
When my acrid scent buds
Over that of a spoilt bean.
I am Almajiri

ALMAJIRI BY MICHAEL ADESIJI

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