Maami!
This is not to be eaten
The three-day-left eba with palmoil
and salt

Asake!
The only thing left is this
Though the smell is putrid
We just have try so that we won’t throw up
But the taste is bearable to keep us up

Asake!
We can still manage till tomorrow
So that we sleep not with hunger

I’ve got a stomach pain, Maami!

Oh my Lord, I’m going insane
You know I’m living in pain
My words are nothing to seek
For rain of money speaks for human
How am I to unhook the chain?
Ashake can’t eat though we have no food to eat

Asake!
I know you can see the sun shining
But nothing left to be sundry
Our spirit is suffering from hunger
And the earth can testify our struggle
Go to Adeosu and collect the bread on credit
Be fast before he gives up on credit
Make sure you don’t eat it all
Even, if your mouth waters up when bringing it
That is the last hope for a week fast
It will be our strength to struggle out
So that we remain firm till we sort ourselves out
So I pray to my God to create a good way

Maami!  Maami!  Maami!
I am dead in living
Maami
The last bread had been given out
Our destiny has been forsaken
We need to cry enough so that we live
We don’t even have the strength to cry
So there is no reason to be shy

We keep on praying
Saying a lot to God like muttering madmen
It has become our daily routine
So we need to eat to be able to beg
Maami!

You have to be strong to enter the grave, Ashake!
You also need to be strong to accompany me
You know we have nothing left
Than our tiny soul to sing the song of sorrow…

Adeleke Haamid