My salute to you
Hands that caress the soil
and make it arable -
my hearty salute

Greetings,
hands that toil
and sweat...

From sun up to sun down,
your hoes, knives attack
the earth for bountiful harvests,
my unreserved salute.

Greetings,
hands that tend
and care...

Silently, softly, you dig
the hard surface as
sweat kiss your rough face;
my hearty salute.

Accept my salute
in praise of your courage,
your persistence, patience,
water our thirsty palate...

Here is my unmitigated salute...

Greetings to your hands:
bringer of fat tubers
that grace our capacious barns,
your mystic fingers;
reaper of cassava
that assuage our hunger,
your untiring efforts provider
of cocoyams that fill
our hungry bellies

May these fingers that
toil and bake under
searing sun receive
my salute.

Greetings,
hands that
delight in dirts...

Emeka Chike Nwogu