Poetry Corner: A Nightingale Sings Wisdom

By Kwesi BISSUE

So there was a bird and a bird-catcher

A nightingale and a hunter

There was a prey and a predator

There the vanquished vetted the victor

 

The elusive bird finally capitulated

The persistent hunter richly rewarded

The singing nightingale meekly surrendered

But it had a plea to sing

A last song to sing

 

“Oh dear hunter

Oh brave one

Listen to me

Before you do to me

What you will

Oh hear my cry

Before you decide that I die

Oh brave one

Here I sing out to you

The three golden nuggets of wisdom

Wisdom to make you reach any height you stretch to reach”

 

The hunter cocked his ear to hear

Wanting to hear the first of the three nuggets

There the nightingale sang so loud, so clear

“Hold on to what you have

Never let it go”

 

After the hunter heard the first

He was eager to learn the second

The nightingale sang that out so clear

…even louder

“Don’t cry over what you cannot have”

Rang the second

The hunter wished he could hear the third in a second

Yet he waited with bated breath

 

But the nightingale would sing the third much later

“Oh dear one

Oh brave hunter

Grant me freedom if you want the third to hear

Give me a breathing space to think to sing the third

 

So the nightingale the hunter let go

So off the nightingale fled on wings

To perch on the highest branch of the farthest tree

So far away from the hunter’s reach

“Now the third I’m all ears

So dear nightingale, sing”

Said the hunter, there so eager

 

The nightingale now breathed free

From the top of the tree

Now the hunter itched to hear number three

“Oh dear hunter

Oh brave one

I gave you my word for a third

So I will not deny you the third

But do well to repeat the first

The first nugget of wisdom”

Sang the nightingale from the top of the tree

 

“Oh singing nightingale

The first of the nuggets still holds in my mind

I will repeat just so you know

‘Hold on to what you have

Never let it go’

Just what you said”

 

Well said, brave hunter

Bold bird-catcher, I say well done

Why did you let me go then?”

“Ouch!” shouted the hunter

Why did I let you go?

Why didn’t I hold on to you when I had you?

Oh nightingale

How do I get hold of you again?

Now you are out of my reach”

 

“Oh dear hunter

Oh brave one

You are sighing over what you lack

Sorry you can’t have me back

If then you remember the second nugget

Tell me in a second”

 

“Oh elusive nightingale

The second I recall so well

So I wail

The second nugget has not failed

For I cannot hold on even to your tail

It is a second test I have failed”

 

“Oh dear hunter

Oh brave bird-catcher

‘Don’t cry over what you cannot have’

This is the second nugget you have

If you want to reach or be rich

Add the first to the second to get the third

 

The three golden nuggets of wisdom

‘Once you find it

Never let it go

Hold on to it till thy kingdom come

Once you let it go

Don’t cry to again hold it’

 

So there was a bird and a bird-catcher

A nightingale and a hunter

There was a prey and a predator

There the vanquished, vanquished the victor

 

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