Manna for refugees
By Abraham Nwankwo
For forty days and forty nights,
They trekked and got dejected.
So they made a camp to rest awhile,
And fires to cook the night’s meals set.
Winged termites swarmed around,
Falling into fires to produce salivating aroma.
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Tasted the roasted thing and found it delicious;
And so the manna embraced.
Next morning they walked around,
To familiarize themselves with the place.
And what did they this time observe?
Noble-white coloured mushrooms aplenty.
The harvested and roasted them,
With oil, pepper and salt to great delight.
For this too was another manna,
That the ancestors to them had sent.
As the sun pierced the dews,
The refuges observed something strange:
A preponderance of greenish caterpillars on plants,
And some “welele” birds were devouring them.
So they too believed, the “maggots” were good for food:
Roasted and used them for oil-bean and cassava puddings;
Also smoked them dry as seasoning and flavour for
soups.
And so the refugees, three mannas from the gods had.
