Friendship Poem by Tony Adah

We three went to school
Which the undiscerning families despice
I knew why we went.
Among the teeming pupils
We went;
We were truants
Out of lessons, chasing squirrels
In the meadow and prowling for palm kernels
Everything we chased was was home
More for us.
You could never know what Mr. Ukemating
Would do the next morning;
And dry gripes will catch your tummy
When thoughts of him rained upon your heart
A stammerer, he seldom talked
When he did, he did so with a cane
Which left bluish marks behind our shins
And we squirmed in pains.
To be truant and often so out of lessons
Was like digging one's grave
And looking at it while alive and knowing
That's where you'd be buried.
My decision to bolt out our friendship
Was bold and right
Those who persisted in it
I can see them bend upon their hoes
Panting and grunting over mounds
The hoe makes
Year in and year out
The toil takes a toll of them
And they're tired and older than me
That's how they look now.