Let's Read Poetry # 31: Cordiality
Malam and kola
Kola and Malam
Friends in one, all in one.
Kola, will you leave me?
No! No!! I come for you
Oh! I'm happy you know.
Tree like you, I never see,
Seed like you, I never eat,
You and me are friends indeed.
Malam and kola,
Kola and Malam,
Friends in one, all in one.
A simple four line stanza poem. The theme of cordiality /intimacy runs through the poem. The poem is written in very simple diction hence the simplicity of the entire poem. The persona 'Malam' and his friend 'kola' to an average Nigerian reader may mean an Hausa man and his addiction to the unending chewing of the kolanut. The poem calls to mind at once a Malam with kola-painted mouth/lips. The poet brings the relationship further home by personifying 'kola'.