Finger that feeds many tongues
By Khalid Imam
A finger soaked in a calabash of honey
is what everyone would want to lick
not one soiled with wet clay.
I salute the finger that feed
many tongues with honey.
Oh Bukar Usman!
To plenty souls, you are a honey soaked finger
all crave for your honey of erudition that cures ignorance.
Your honey of generosity
offers great succour and relief
from heartless penury for hundreds of dozens
deeply drowned in its flood.
To many dry throats,
you serve as a rivulet of hope against the droughts of despair.
Your kindness tastes
so succulently sweet like fresh milk.
Oh Bukar, a dutiful loyal son of Usman,
your diligence is that of a watchful deer always.
Today, I salute your patriotism
to the great people of Biu and Borno.
I praise your deep love for Hausa language
and Arewa’s renaissance.
I hail your pan-Nigerianism —
a detribalised river you are
crisscrossing countless communities.
I appreciate you as a dedicated man
beaming the indoor room of our common humanity
with touch of your illuminating books.