Kidnapper's Den Poem by Tony Adah

There is an uncompleted building
Three streams away from the
Village market and
It is overgrown with weeds and bamboos,
Creepings of mecuna are the sentry by the gate
And only a foothpath leads there
Here is a den where
The lions and the lionesses live.

It is a hovel for millipedes, cockroaches
Rodents and webs of all spiders
But a haven for the gangsters
The lioness wears a bait
Like a fish hook and begs for a ride down
After the market and the unsuspecting rider
Is caught with a ransom on his head
And it is a handsome ransom.
This is where drinks, drugs, money and women meet
And the uninitiate imperiled.