in each of the two poems, the voice of the Abiku is heard

while the tone of Clark's poem is conciliatory, that of Soyinka is defiant

it would appear that making body marks on the two Abiku has not served the customary purpose of stopping them from coming again

as the two poet portray them, Clark's Abiku can choose to stay or not to stay, but Soyinka's Abiku cannot.