The Man Has Gone Poem by Tony Adah

The hedge of palm fronds traversed
Orangbang, Ibegem, Otsonkang, Emu,
Agengbu
And the dogs named, Jealousy, Gossips, Marksman
All wagged their tails every morning
After the night vigil he towed them behind him
To where long live- sticks driven into the earth
Bent over with a wire trap.

Those which attempted rising up
Had in their mouths a rabbit, a deer or an antelope
What about a grasscutter or stone beef or squirrels?
They are all culprits trapped
And he himself a witness.

The yams grunted from their mounds
Amidst the weeds
The bean pods bursted like canon sounds
And okro stems stood competing height
With the iroko and mohagony trees
The slow hand of spousal help bent them lower
And the thickener of dry okro emerged mixed
With lumps of trap butchered games
Which drove faster the farina down the throat.

He did toil
Under rain and sun
Beat the wrought iron gong
Distracting the concentration
Of folktales listeners with a message
From the king
A village crier with a box of wisdom powder.

He did all this
To hold the six
Those four strong males and two females
One officially espoused
And the other on hire purchase
He did all this and gave up today
A gallant man boasting as
If he had power to stop death.