Two Poems by Muhammad Auwal Ibrahim

CAGED BIRDS

Once in my childhood
I was caught and locked in a cage
Like a bird
At my small age

I lived for long
Under the control of a cruel:
Who is more villain than a gang
Controlling me like a criminal

I ate once in a day
I don’t get it at my own pleasant time
One day one time
I came to escape as age grows
Through the wire fence
Like a cage bird
To a far land
Where child’s rights are paramount
There, I saw how children are treated fairly
With their full freedom in their hands

WIDOWHOOD

Dead are the inhumane days
When women were locked inside huts
Together with the death corpse
Through out the dark nights
And be asked to confess of their unknown sins
After their husbands depart

Dead are the barbaric moment
When women were given libation to consume
And a black gown to wear
Just to attest their innocence on the recent departure
More especially when a hawk is seen on the roof

Women stayed lonely for four months
Their faces no longer catch powder
As large body of water keeps flowing day to day on their faces
All their inherited properties were confiscated
In those archaic times
While they mourn the departure of their beloved

Their heads shines like a mirrow
After it were caught in between barbers thigh
For cutting off their hair with a sharp blade,
That is sharper than swords

Women think that they were stripped off naked of their only worn out cloth
When their sweat falls
Like a rain of August flowing on farm
No one to assist them
Lonely like sun

Biography: