I
feel like an eagle in flight
After rousing from centuries of slumber
Cowardly poachers my nest have plundered
Depriving my chicks of food and shelter
Strangers captured and stole my folks
For food and fun steel bars have them caged
Captors shaved their beaks, pruned sharp talons
To annul fierce attacks from indomitable kins
Lesser birds and vultures now dominate the skies
Where the king of birds reigned supreme
Iroko treetops have all but vanished
Leaving green fields dotted with brown roofs
Frisky chicks smart from hunger pangs
To calm tensed nerves they peck at twigs
Rabbits are rare since woodlands became cornfields
But a kill must be whether chick'n or lamb
I scan the fields through broken clouds
To spot food and foe alike
Skies, forests, and fields below must return
Under the wings of the African Thunderbird. |
