Christopher Okigbo: Poems Poem Text

Christopher Okigbo: Poems Poem Text

"Hurrah For Thunder"

WHATEVER happened to the elephant –
Hurrah for Thunder –

The elephant, tetrarch of the jungle:
With a wave of the hand
He could pull four trees to the ground;
His four mortar legs pounded the earth:
Wherever they treaded,
The grass was forbidden to be there.

Alas! the elephant has fallen –
Hurrah for thunder –

But already the hunters are talking about pumpkins:
If they share the meat let them remember thunder.

The eye that looks down will surely see the nose;
The finger that fits should be used to pick the nose.

Today-for tomorrow, today becomes yesterday:
How many million promises can ever fill a basket...

If I don’t learn to shut my mouth I’ll soon go to hell,
I, Okigbo, town-crier/ together with my iron bell

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