When The Cock Crows Poem by Tony Adah

When the cock crows
He says to himself, I am the rooster,
The stranger's compass and the clock
Of dusk and dawn
The man shakes the world with a clarion
Call for farmers to rise
And palm wine tappers to go
For market women to file out with wares
Or perch on a breezy pickup truck
On their way to their trade.
I am the harbinger of peace
The compass of the stranger
But also his meal,
The friend of man but also his soup
When the cock crows
Both ways the omens are heralded.