Strategies Poem by Haruna Garba

Whosoever had mounted the bed first
First, should be to clamber out
Simultaneously we got aboard
And they blinked and yawned
I still deep asleep

Knowing that water must follow
They turned, tycoons of logs
Smoke-screened wares in current's brace
To defenseless zones across all seas


Knowing that the wind must blow
They turned carpenters of unassailable rating
Sawdust booked for the breeze

Wise travelers slake the guards
A few days before setting sail
And so this they did

Cute fishermen knit their nets
When the river's bed lies undressed
And so this they did


Witty croupiers load their cowries
Under the silent basement of their roofs
And so this they did

Real card sharpers flick with lightening speed
Trick to fleece easy pigeons
And so this they did

Now victims of the scrap of our disposal
Scavenged by crafty hands
We are just some gilts before the gold
Typical pebbles before some marble
Brothers, we are licked
And licked though as we are
We could still pull out of this slumber
Induced by lobbyers' lullabies

Oh, what it must have taken them
To con maize cob about looking sensational
Without its gear of a dozen wraps
And still think nothing of it

Licked as we are, brothers
Gold, Diamond and Silver
Can't be everything

Everest itself, mighty as it is
Is but a floating gloat

Licked as we seem to be
Official we have, as a guide
To show us through Taj Mahal
Through Duamo and the Grand Canal
Stonehenge never the end
Then onto the scenes of all waterfronts
Where wits are at their peaks
Where the real chains are jingled

They recline too long on those beach chairs
Dead to we who yak about lore
Alas!
Had this bright dicks so willed
They would have since found a lead
And finally broken this riddle of myth

But who the hell would unearth a mine
When handy is a detecting device?
He would rather live
And live his fool's paradise
Global-beckoning all to it

Who in their right senses
Would walk right in to swords
Menacingly poised in their way
He would rather cower in cowardice
Global-baiting all to bile

Why else should they blow themselves sky high?
They might have'een denied of enough breathing space
So they had better sneak forth
And find themselves some boarding mates

Licked as we are
Heaven soaring
Fuel dining
Dumb wizards
Reigned thunderbolts
Invisible messengers and the trimmings
All can't be everything
One can have twixt his ribs
What it takes to move a mountain
Real savior of the globe