Minstrel

Jungle Justice

 

 

Ingrate’s men are wailed the tree

I give to him the air he breathes

I shelter him in the storm

Yet grateful to me he wouldn’t be

He cuts me up and drains my blood

My limbs he uses for his fire

Ah such agony he gives to me

For to my children he does the same

You think that agony says the sea

I give to him the clouds he needs

I bear him unto distant lands

Yet with dyes he poisons me

And perhaps you haven’t heard

How he from the cradles my children snatches up

A murderer him I would call

How he loves you both says the sky

I shelter him from the sun

Dangerous gases I keep away

Yet my face he does not want to see

Thus with smoke and gases he chokes me up

And all because he has the power

An oppressor that’s what he is

Shut you all up says the land

What of I who hold you all in place

I give to man a stepping stone

But what does he give in return

Large holes he digs into me

And my innards he exploits

My liver he uses for a chain

My spleen for his earrings use

My heart uses he for his fuel

And now I hear you all cry out

What more agony could be

Greater than this

Aye all you call man that he is and more

A destroyer that’s my name for him

What do we they all cried out?

For we can see he respects us not

I will began the land

Refuse the holes in me to refill

“And I will……” he also says

Under the sea hide my face

Then…. said the sea with glee

I will flood all his lands

His poisons I also will

Give back to him for his drink

Then the sky says to them

I will roll up my skirts right away

And let the wicked gases have their way

As for me says the tree

I will no children bear again

One day none of me he will find

To build his fire then he’ll die from cold

How then they clapped and rejoiced

A way out…… they all had found

To deliver justice unto man

 

© 1999 Ibitomilade Adejuyigbe (aka Tomi Akinyanmi).

June 29, 2009 - Posted by Tomi | poetry, Tomi | Environment, Nature