The Abiku is a spirit from Nigeria, specifically from the people of the

Yoruba territory. The Abiku, unlike many of the creatures and spirits from folklore and

legends, do not have a full form of their own. Instead, the enter the bodies of

newborn babies, stealing from them all the nutrients then need to live. Children who

are possessed by the Abiku never survive to become adults, dying either within the

first few months or before they reach the age of 13. The Abiku bring nothing but

sorrow to the parents of the children as it is believed that the babies will be reborn

time and time again for the Abiku to inhabit.

Abiku by Wole Soyinka 1934

In vain your bangles cast

Charmed circles at my feet

I am Abiku, calling for the first

And repeated time.

Must I weep for goats and cowries

For palm oil and sprinkled ask?

Yams do not sprout amulets

To earth Abiku’s limbs.

So when the snail is burnt in his shell,

Whet the heated fragment, brand me

Deeply on the breast – you must know him

When Abiku calls again.

I am the squirrel teeth, cracked

The riddle of the palm; remember

This, and dig me deeper still into

The god’s swollen foot.

Once and the repeated time, ageless

Though I puke, and when you pour

Libations, each finger points me near

The way I came, where

The ground is wet with mourning

White dew suckles flesh-birds

Evening befriends the spider, trapping

Flies in wine-froth;

Night, and Abiku sucks the oil

From lamps. Mothers! I’ll be the

Suppliant snake coiled on the doorstep

Yours the killing cry.

The ripest fruit was saddest

Where I crept, the warmth was cloying.

In silence of webs, Abiku moans, shaping

Mounds from the yolk.