Cryptic Calls
CRYPTIC CALLS:
i
The night called out to him
A man of plane fleet
Gloved in illusion of machete and strength
To beat out from the web of sleep
And answer the howling cryptic calls:
Cryptic calls of hooting owls and chirping crickets
Cryptic calls with lurid eyes of a marauder
A marauder in the parapet of silence…
The chameleon has changed its colour
The cloud refused giving out dew
And the moon (in monocle) beat down on the glimmering grasses
To forewarn him of the hatching egg
Bearing horn as fang
Bathing with fire…
Ii
He heard the sound but did not see the cryptic step drawing near
Yet another proof that the pearls have to be forgone
But will man’s weakness play low on him
To forfeit the fishes in the hooks-
The Fishes renting net
He has gone out for:
shattered cries in the air
Echoes down the river stream,
The forest will tell of the glees
Of the meat that got a meat
Who went out for the fish;
Broken bones and splashes of blood
Wanton break of breath-
Had it been a crocodile
Joy of death not to have taken a dilatory step
Along the verge of the smothering weight…
Iii
He galloped him down a whole-
Termites crying for no crump
Vultures for no corpse
People for no man-
One has taken the joy of all
With community answering another cryptic calls
But who born the devil -
The spider with million hands
To lay cobwebs on the road
That they may not see the pregnant python at the river bank.
Copyright © Nwajei Jude | Year Posted 2020
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