The Smal Mud School Poem by Tony Adah

Up the hills and down the valleys
We we walked barefooted to see
An Irish Reverend father in one building mud school
He drummed into our ears the paster noster
And the Nativity and the Christ and the teacher
Tithes of eggs and yams flew from our hearts
He drove a tortoise car only.

A small school it was
Where baptism was given
In the midst of lantanas, marigold, lilies
frangipanis, hibiscus and roses
Today all that is gone
The Irish father gone
His tithe amplified, his car a jeep
And the core is lost
To gain the periphery.