OGUN

Obutunde Ijimere

Ogun is not like pound yam,

Do you think you can knead him in your hand

And eat of him until you are satisfied?

Ogun is not lie maize gruel:

Do you think you can drink  him

Until the calabash  is drained?

Ogun is not something you can carry in one hand:

Do you think you can put  him in your cap

And walk away with him?

Ogun kills in the dead of night

And during the heat of the day.

When Ogun  wants to kill

He does not care whether it rains or the sun shines

He kills the rat in its hole

The squirrel on the tree

And the eagle in the middle of the sky.

The leopard claws the earth,

Blood cozes from his nostrils,

His eyes stare white towards the sky

When he is hit by Ogun.

The elephant roars like the kakaki  trumpet

His trunk threatens to tear the sky

Like an old rag.

But when he is struck by Ogun,

His tree – truck legs snap like broomsticks,

And his  weight comes thundering down.