THEY WALKED AND TALKED

Uche Okeke

They talked and walked,

Walked and talked and talked –

Talkative homing dames;

Mothers, grandmother, all homing,

Returning from a distant mart

Baskets on heads, words on lips-

Gossip or tall tales of folk at home.

They clapped their hands;

They screamed from time to time;

They moved their hands in most expressive ways –

Their hands spoke even louder than their tongues –

As they swept like a great Saharan wind

Along the winding beaten tracks

Before them, silent, deserted.

Not even the  discordant croaking of the toad,

Not even the noise of insects here and there,

Not even the songs of birds everywhere,

Were heard above the noise of these homing folk

Who (forgetful of the  ancient saying

That even blades of grass are living ears)

Could not restrain their long and wagging tongues.