Why The Chicken Crossed The Road Poem by Oduro Bright Amoh

It grabbed his head by morning light,
It roused him in the dark of night,
It was to him a heavy load
Why did the chicken cross the road?
He had no appetite for food
His mind was locked in pensive mood
He scratched his head in vanity
He cussed and cried profanity
A worried mess he had become
Yet, answer to him will not come

A message to wise men was sent
"The king has had all his brains spent
To find the answer to this test.
He bids his wise men now to quest
With all their wisdom and their wit
Come, come to him and answer it.
If you can only quench this fire
Reward is what your hearts desire.
Pray all should come to crack this code,
Why did the chicken cross the road? "

From all towns, many did arrive
An answer to problem contrive.
Men and women of every act
Gathered to try to prove their tact.
A result, a good one to bring
To soothe the worries of their king.
The king received all in his hall
And threw the question now to all.
He bade them one by one to drum
A beat to match the conundrum.

The farmer was the first to speak.
He claimed that roosters in their peak
Will cross roads when they deem it fine
Because they see beyond the line
A lot of worms to their delight.
He knew this, he said, from insight
And had seen fowls do this before
"So king worry your head no more.
As a reward, I beg your hand
To give me hefty plots of land"

" Another one should come explain,
For this farmer, it's very plain
He has no business being here
We called wise men. It is too clear
That this farmer is far from wise
If it were so, let him devise,
If the chicken iron claws had
To dig through the concrete that hard
For where I saw the chicken pass
Was all concrete, not even grass."

A man who claimed that he had skill
To make animals talk at will
Asked that the fowl be brought at once
And he be given just one chance
To inquire from the very bird
And bring to their notice its word.
But the bird, it was found, was dead;
Fried and eaten with wine and bread.
His method no more feasible,
They called on the next possible.

Next came the town's necromancer
To try to with his skill answer,
Why did the chicken cross the road,
To ease his king's mind of this load.
He made many a wondrous claim.
He babbled on about his fame.
But he said he had never tried
To talk to creatures who have died,
Unless the dead were human beings.
And so this call was not his doings.

He thought this magician a fool
Our worried king still kept his cool.
Well, perhaps, this was so because
He had seen magic used to cause
A bitter demise to a man
And therefore, bore a little fear
Himself or someone he holds dear
Would by sorcery be murdered cold
If he this magic fool did scold


"A great philosopher was there
Who claimed that it is only fair
That a chicken crossing the road,
No matter what the reason, showed
The unmatched greatness of the state.
If birds cross roads to eat or mate,
Then even they enjoyed the way
The great king has ruled to this day"
The king made them cut off his head
"It's no use on his neck", He said.

Panic was felt in the king's hall
Both great men, wise men, big men, small.
Fear held their lips, they wouldn't speak
Lest they should put him in a pique.
And reader, you and I well know
That everyone will dodge the blow
That will send one into the grave,
No matter how that one is brave.
The bitter silence the king broke
When these few words in anger spoke,


"And I, I thought my council wise
But all have proven otherwise".
He locked all his wise men away.
No more to see the light of day.
With fury, he retired to bed.
And from that day not one word said.
He cared no longer for his life
He would not see even his wife
He pined away and died alone
His son took heir of daddy's throne.

Few days later there was decree
Taking effect immediately,
That every rooster should pay heed
And also birds of the same breed
The village horn the message blowed
"No fowl should ever cross the road"
Poor chicken hadn't been to school
So they couldn't make out the rule
These creatures without rule of law
Crossed the road like ever before.

Morale
Not all questions demand research
Leave your domestic fowls to perch
When they decide to cross the road
Don't mull over that episode.
Why seek why chicken cross the street,
When you should be eating their meat?
One other thing you have to know
That this passage has strove to show
Is chicken do not rules obey
And do not care what kings will say.