The gods have come
Not in ones
Not in twos
But in multitudes
The gods have come
Not through the water
Not through fire
But through holes in the earth
As the gods come
My food
My soup
Silently they attack
Taking them afar
Wanting to ascertain
What a scheming neighbor
Added to the lot
While I went to sleep
PS: I wrote this a long time ago when I was still in Abia State and every time I remember the incident, I just cannot help but smile. On that fateful day, my allowance has just come in and I was sort of loaded. I went to the market to buy every thing that you can find in a good soup (which I can afford anyway).
After the cooking, my Egusi soup was really a beauty and the aroma was something else. I had planned that it would last me for a couple of days and after that, I will eat this and that and this… Suffice it to say that my feeding for that week was well planned and sorted out. I didn’t bother to eat the soup at that moment because I was not hungry and it was also time for me to enter town.
It was late when I came back and I went straight to bed because I’ve been fed in town. When I woke up the next morning, I told myself that the best food to start that day was Eba/Egusi soup and I was already salivating at the thought of that. To my horror, when I got to my kitchen to warm the soup and make my Eba, I discovered that my precious pot of soup was being attacked by soldier ants. I could neither cry nor shout.
I was just transfixed to the spot, looking at the ants with murderous rage. It was after I came back to reality that I went to pour out the whole lot. Even a piece of meat, I never had the opportunity of eating. All the plans that I have made concerning feeding for that week came crashing down in that instant.
This reminds me of the Scripture that says “Boast not thyself of tomorrow, for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth - Prov 27:1.
