My little children,
Listen to the words of wisdom
Pouring out of the eighty calabashes,
And let the ancestors
Propose a toast over
My untimely strife,

I can only pretend
To appreciate taste and sight
In this present nature of mine,
For it is only the madman who
Goes to sleep when his roof is on fire,
But the bat can only
Think of himself as a bird,

Hmm, an eagle does not go to
The market place unless there
Is something new to find,
See how I have become
A spectacle to the sparrows
And the infants calling
Me a witch in the market places,

How sweet is youth,
Yet it flies from us,
Be happy now,
If you wish to be happy,
For one cannot be sure of tomorrow
And old age is not a curse,
But a stage in life.


© PRINCE NANA ANIN-AGYEI
Email: nanaspeaks@gmail.com