Phillips Olayanju (Lagos)

A sardonic poem which starts on a slow speed describing an African man from a distance. An African man commands respect through his manly figure and stance 'moving stifly in graceful movement'.Broad shaped strong shoulders likened to an unshakable mountain with an intelligent head fixed on it.This is regarded as the sign of maturity in Africa thus becomes a qualification for palmwine 'cloudy water'.
A sign of maturity for fatherhood is the 'muscular jewels' within his thigh which work every night complemented by the 'monthly cry' of a baby...this potrays polygamy in African culture.The African man knows nothing of civilisation and this is shown in lines 13-16 using his legs as instrument of movement and farming as means of livelihood. The African man's daily life is potrayed in the next two stanza's-Work during the day and enjoy the pleasure of life in the night.Suddenly, the poem takes a sharp turn as the nail is hit on the head.Finally, civilisation comes in all idealism of training the babaric African man.It is noteworthy that the African man comes from a 'black' continent(symbolism) while the 'whites' come from a 'white' continent(symbolism) so they believe the black man is babaric and thus disrupts the way of life initially described in the first7 stanzas and 'killed the scent of the african man' Note: now 'african' not 'African'. The poet then juxtaposes the first line with the last line.