Nest Poem by Haruna Garba

Up in a tree
Where each Lokoja lies, called a bough
Constructed so neatly
Is the crane's one roomed apartment

Perched on their roofless home
They've stoically withstood
The pricking of the brambles
That pierced their native skin
And the sun that baked them

Suddenly then came the rain
And the cerulean pair of eggs hatched
Presenting a couple God-made

Inspired and with gratitude
Happily they went hunting
Stalking closely at the heels of herds
Tactfully tackling the percipient grasshoppers
And as the cattle dine, their droppings fall
Which are rolled up and away by the beetles
Ever forestalling the strutting flies
Though you've fed them fairly well
Now you're changed birds
You'd only to see their new feathers grow
And you became changed
Why else curtailed their rations?
Why else make a handicap-
Of that you paid for blood and sweat?

Dear communal cranes
Could these be your idea of weaning?

Soaring above the ripening crops
They answer
Utilize the little against rainy days
And with abjection, acquaint yourselves
One day, you might catch up with us
On Jone's farm, at the battle of cowshed