A group of Elephants is called a herd. Elephants are herbivores and peaceful animals. Sometimes writers call them “Gentle Giants.” They are found all over Africa and are territorial. Elephants are social animals and love mud bathing. Most of their day is spent grazing. Their diet include barks, tree leaves and roots. Here’s an advice:… Continue reading Herd of Elephants
Tag: elephant
Africa is a budding cocoon
A shy, fragile and cute butterfly
With shaky wings meant to fly
Living, in a desperate world
Africa is the gigantic tree
That grows by the side of the river
Shielding the lengths of the forests
And feeding the lifes around it
Africa is a mountain highly peaked
With white snows melting gracefully
And herds of Wildebeest grazing
Quietly down the grassy green plains
Africa is a mild song
That plays when the sunshine
At the beach down, down the road
With brown and white sand mixed
Africa is a dream
Waiting to happen
Hope of the generation
A scenic beauty of land and nature
Africa is my home
The hills of serene Ovim*
And the wild catfishes
That move about kingly and fearless
Africa is love
Community and family
Desires and joyful times
And the moonlight tales of the town
The Victoria Waterfalls is Africa
…The Veldt, the Savannah
…The Lake Chad and the River Niger
…The Lions and the Cheetah
…The Crocodiles and the Hippo
…The Elephants and the Rhino
…The Baobab and the Iroko
…The Zulu tribe and Igbo
…The Guinea and the Sahara
…The Oil Palm and the Shea
…The Orange and Nile River
…The Ashante and the Boer
…The Yankari reserve and the Serengeti
…The bushmens’ home and the Kalahari
…The amazing wine called mqobothi
…The Zebra and the Ostrich
Africa plays my fancy
And in such sweetness
I love my motherland
Commentary:
Ovim is in Nigeria and the poet hails from there.
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Once I met a painter
A fine and petit young man
At the corner of the street he lived
Working away, minding his business
And living so solitary, that I wondered
“Hallo sir! What do you really paint?”
I must have sounded sheepish
For who won’t call a pen, a writer
When you know the pen writes?
“I paint ALL things! I paint you
I paint all you feel and care for”
He answered, hiding his resentment
Or yet, perhaps he didn’t get my jeer
I shuddered, strange it sounded
“My feelings and cares, hmm” I grunted
“But now I am carefree, how can you paint that?”
He looked at me, abandoned my talk
And turned the board he was working on
A magnificient picture stood before me
Some hues of blue, suggesting the skies
A tint of greens surrounding the lower board
And a yellow ball which I called the sun
Then on the middle, was a lonely Elephant
Raising his trunk high into the sky
More like, he was saluting someone up there
And I asked why he painted a lonely Elephant
“Shouldn’t he be having a family, sort of?”
He shrugged, smile and brought the image down
“He is lonely, only to his thoughts
He owes no one, he fears no one
He cares and loves himself, as he is” he replied
Perhaps the world had been crude to him I felt
Like he understood my mind, he smiled
“Now sit right there, Im gona paint you”
He said excitedly, pointing to a seat
His head will stuck out
Now and then to peer at me
I put up my best smile
Something inbetween a tear and innocency
He was’nt bothered at my look
My sister would have blurted out
“Ugh! Please change that face, Oke!”
Well, I tried to enjoy it, while it lasted
When the boredom tried to come upon me
He then was finally done; with a sigh
“Okay, and here we go; your portrait”
He carefully, turned the image to my view
I saw the image stare at me in confusion
Or was I the one confused; anyhow
Someone, somebody was truly muddled
Havent noticed my jaws were dropped
Till when I had need for talking
“Uhm, okay. I can’t explain the connection
Of I and, and eh… Him” I pointed at the image
“But deep down me, that guy, that painting
Feels like a part of me, feels like me!”
The painter laughed, enjoying my confusion
“Well, painting is like the revolving Earth
Each time you try to look at it,
Each gaze seem to be the very best
At certain point, at the age of the youth
Things, reasoning come to you different
But for your confusion and the Elephant
Do you now understand why I paint?”
