The Old Man And The Light Poem by Tony Adah

The sun sojourn home
To its abode in the west
Casting a dark shadow
Over the harbour side
You could see the silhouette
Of coconut fronds swaying
Just above the high fence
That made our house a prison

The evening wild wind in the sky
Stretch the silent clouds
They gave a gloomy stare
At this side of the world about to rest
You could hear the sound of generators
Humming as the neighbourhood privatize
Their public power supply.

A certain jerk came hitting at our gate
So hard I couldn't delegate
Any child to see who the hell
Came hard at the gate.
Out I went clinching my Chinese rechargeable.
Through a chink on metal of the pedestrian gate
A spiky bearded old man awaited me
Gazing at the floodlight
Please he said, 'public light has gone off my house
But I can see the brilliance in which your house is lit'
Yes I said, he staggered backwards
And asked me for one of my glowing bulbs
To enable him make his bed and rest his head
For the night.