Jide Badmus
Poem
My sole worshipped the
dew-wet red earth of Oraifite
—into the fog, one hesitant step
after another, blind thoughts
stumbled into each other.
I courted morning—
eulogized the nude
sun in her shrine of sky.
Prayed the rays to be soft,
lush like a squirrel’s tail.
Here, god is an animal!
You don’t use sticks
or rocks on a python’s head,
else you let misfortune into
your home.
I was more at home
on croaking paths—
in a church of chirps
& whispering fronds.
For the markets are wild
& lonely for the foreigner.
They say the people are simple
& friendly. But here I was pelted
with stones of eyes each time
I walked down the streets—
scorned with silence.
I’d rather learn to speak
in avian tongues
so I could daily join
the little bird
on my window pane
in its morning praise—
learn the dialect of rodents
& chit-chat mango-loving
squirrels on my way to site…