Don'T Say Hush

It is not our way To reap from another’s sweat It is not of the blackman’s norm To call the breeze a storm. You see when the elders sit They can see far ahead of the youth that stands atop the Iroko tree. When you cut a tree from the forest It is only the elders that knows its resting place. You can have all the newest of clothes But you can’t have as many rags as the elders. When a child sits to eat worms His intestines should be ready for doom. Afterall what brought us all here, Avarice, hatred and contempt That we have passed on from generations The hands that keep company of dirt Will surely not be suiting for a friendly handshake. The elders have grown wise with age To know that when a policeman Begins to make friends with criminals And wear the same buba with thieves We should get ready to become megaurds overnight You see, When judges begin To see nothing wrong in collecting bribes We should know that the law wears a veil. When young children Are being praised by their mothers For stealing their neighbours belongings We shouldn’t question the day our values died. When the elders speak Do not silence them, For they-have grown wise to know When a fast moving korope pretends to be moving slow. We are in strange times When men flaunt their ill-gotten wealth In the very face of their victims. A time when men of the law With trust have gone to war And those who are supposed To be men of God- are mischievously claiming His place. When the elders talk Let not your finger Order your lips still. . © Muyideen Ayinla 2021