The Last Days

If nowadays we have become so wise And are proud achievers Who have explored the world from our cradle; If these days men would hear with their eyes And men would speak by their actions And would prefer to reason with their flesh; If today you see chicken gnaw bones And billy hunt and prey on rodents, Do not stand to stare or wonder, For these are the last days! When a day's old child would stare, When teens have now become bachelors; When at twelve you have known Men and women and fulfil God's injunction To procreate and litter the earth with waifs. If at twenty six your name goes With the scholastic print of Ph. D. And when at thirty sitting at your verandah Having coloured teeth from tobacco and kola. What else are you waiting for my friend? Do not wait on what the earth has to offer, Prepare your bed and die, For these are the last days! If nowadays we have become so wise, If today we are proud achievers, We are like the young child, Umu, Who sighted a ripe mango amidst dozens Of unripe mangoes up in the tree. He detest the burden of climbing And would never think of waiting For the mango to fall to the ground. In his excitement, he pulled up the young stalk Of a healthy peer tree and Threw it up at the mango tree. He threw it up again and again and before He could struck down the one ripe mango, He had plucked and emptied dozens Of unripe mangoes to the earth. He picked the one ripe mango Among the others and left in triumph! If nowadays we have become so wise, If today we are proud achievers, When an infant would reject His mother's breast because he has no time, Do not stand to ask why or wonder, For these are the last days That shall give birth to a new era!