Village Square
By George Amadi
No longer of nocturnal howls
Stands in awe; of masquerade,
Still looking for the right word,
In admiration stands no end.
Gone are those days of trifles
When his bed-wetting smells
Parents and elders overlooked,
With fondness a child petted.
Gone are those days of trifles
When with pebbles, a catapult,
Gangling archer a dozen birds
Felled, away stashed in the kitty.
Gone are those days of trifles
When out of a sherry tree fell
Teen-aged hunter who, all night
Long, after a rub-down, groaned.
All grown, before a village excited,
Stands a man by hard work, virtue
Tempered; able, ready a family to
Raise vows, eliciting joy and praise.
His peers in an age-grade mature
Classed, their manhood in valour
Clothed; they with the elders palm-
Wine at the village square shared.
Lagos, Oct. 19, 2014
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