Ode To The Harmattan

by Dike Dyke Williams

Coming with terror

And such menacing

Dominion, is you

Harmattan…

Coveting, and touching

With strong naked touch

Of nature.

Unclothing the great

Iroko and the giant trees;

Flogging the Baobab

To beg few drops renewed…

Hammering the seeds of

The seedling-trees, and the

Oil-bean, until music is

Heard in the afternoon.

You drink dry

The streams, and

Slim the Niger…

You kill the song

Of the bird:

From her mouth you

Take her song, because

You have come to sing

Your song.

Like conjuring witch,

Conjure you the king

In his domain; you rain

Your hand until his hand

Too frail to command

His scepter;

You rob his regalia

When you return from

Far country.

Convulsing the Warrior

And his pride, until

He heals himself

With hot- bath, when

You poison cold morning…

O! Harmattan,

The warrior that worries

The Warrior.

You send the farmer

Borrow long suffering, and

Waiting because you

Have cursed the womb

Of the earth…

White clouds have

Brought down, and

Eyes will not see the

Future, because you

Smoke-screen us impaired.

Africa’s celebrity, when

Again will you show

Your face?

To comment and talk about this with the rest of the KR Community visit our Facebook Page. 

Dike Dyke Williams was born in Lagos, Nigeria. He is an award-winning poet whose poems have been published on the World Healing World Peace poetry anthology, anthology of the Society of Young Nigerian Writers, and the UK poetry library. He is currently working on a collection of Short Stories titled “The Climbing Waters” and an anthology of poems titled “FLY.”  You can follow him on Facebook and on Twitter.