The Messengers
The birds sing a message at dawn, songs of solitude, perched lightly
on twigs of Iroko, for ease of reach
do you still hear them? the peckish chirps they belt to stir heaven in want of food,
chirps you ignore in cruel slumber
are you so secure in being wealthy that you sleep undisturbed by the cries of the many needy: almajiris, refugees, displaced,
the broken, helpless, hungry?
one day, they’ll sing no more, gone softly with the Iroko – in homeward drift, to the open arms of the wild, to mother nature
tearfully waiting on prodigals’ return
then you’ll own the dawn to self, in longsome embrace of nights stretched beyond daybreak, ’til you’d wish on the heavens again, to cast its day light, while it awaits you,
to rouse it with a messenger’s song.
Yugo Gabriel Egboluche is a graduate of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. He lives and writes from Nigeria, where he works as a Development Practitioner with a flair for extensive writing that covers poetry, fiction, script and copy-writing. His works have been published in anthologies and webzines including The Kalahari Review and Words, Rhymes & Rhythm, while his short stories have been published in an African Vs Latin American anthology, on blogs and translated into film. He has also edited and co-authored numerous community development texts and guidebooks.
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- Poetry
- Yugo Gabriel Egboluche