ON HER SHADOW

On her shadow
Her face is different, alert and more mature
She's a strong sire for sure
From where the bud I'm first jutted.

On her shadow
She's a caring mother
So loving that you'd never need another
So motherly that you wouldn’t look any further.

On her shadow
She’s my proud mother
On her face
She's my newly born baby girl.

WIND

Wind that blows

Away hues and cries

Carrying with it

Wounds brutally inflicted

Wind that sweeps chuff

Remnants of past memories

Wind that soothes

The soul

Cools the heat

Of cruel fangs of life

Wind that sways

Wild emotions

To intimate ones

Soft in motion

This necessary wind

That Kenyans  need

To bring peace to their minds.

C) Simon Njoroge 2011

REVOLUTION

Like a pottery gem

It’s modeled out of clay dug by the banks

Of a massive river of blood

Blood shed by tribal animosity

It’s moulded by the hands of callous

Political vampires,

Seasoned under the heat

Of oppression and starvation.

Like the finest gold

Its dug from the richest

Honourable-pocket mines

Sorted out in august house

Refined in I-will-never-pay-tax industry.

Like a heavy storm

It’s born out of heavy clouds of discontent

Furiously gathering under the force

Of a heavy wind of liberation

Unleashing its wrath upon the evil elites

When the weight is too much

For the clear-draught-causing heavens to bear.

So who are revolutionaries?

They are the women of courage

Women who when entangled into

Greedy political marriages

Stand, break up and divorce

Their wicked husbands.

They are the youth devoid of ethnic instincts

Youth who can’t stand drug addiction

Youth who dread political manipulation

Selfless youth not chained to corruption

Respectful youth wary of hooliganism.

 

They are the men of integrity

Who when thrown into the turbulent sea

Of corruption, political opportunism, tribalism

Nepotism, cannibalism

Get swallowed by the whale

Of self respect and loyalty

And are later vomited in the Nineveh

Of equality and justice.  

A TEAR FOR THE TEAR

Now that I shed a tear

Now that I mourn the rage of a spear

Where is the vigour you once had?

Where are the promises from you I heard?

When to you my vote counted much.

Whom I thought to be my hope

Was actually the hearse driver

Whom I always feared

Whom I praised as saviour

Spectates as I die of hunger

Interweaved with an ethnic rapier.

Now that my tribe is turned to a hopper

Why aren’t you traversing in a chopper?

As you did when my hand you needed

What crime did I commit?

Now that to justice you won’t submit.

What M.O.U did I breach?

That my children wander in blood and starvation

While yours enjoy away from the commotion

Now that the nation is fragmented

What tear will you shed for the tear?

SOPHISTICATED

My class is higher and learned

Guess, I’m not worth that less

My cheeks are round and dimpled

I was born free of any stress

I deserve much more than you possess.

Try the girls across the street

They are simpler, of your class

Less sophisticated than I am

Less educated as you are

Perfect partners for your kind.

Die salivating for my cascadious hips

Cry imagining kissing my pompous lips

Watch as my gracious love slowly slips

Wishing for once I’d fall for you

Praying that I turn an eye towards you.

My heart is valued in millions

My love is only traded for higher doctorates

Not simple jargons from the bush

Turn your eye across the divide

And search for one who suits your ride

THERE I FIND YOU

 

 

 

 

 

Young and courageous
I go out in search
Of one who'd be a perfect match
The village offers a simple catch
Though humble,
Out of naivety she quickly stumbles.

The city too has its offer
Cute, sophisticated, educated
Quick to drain my coffer
Though passionate
Her demands are inconsiderate.

So I turn to nowhere
Somewhere I’ll find someone
Who will not be like everyone
There I find you patiently waiting for me
With open arms and an open heart
For me to rest on eternally.

MISFIT

Crime is what defines my status

My AK 47 is my dearest apparatus

Boys in blue masquerade as my haters

Yet in the end we share the spoils

Of course on accord that my deals they don’t foil.

Violence is the colour of my blood

Imagine the feeling of strangling a drank guard

The sensation of squeezing the balls of a helpless lad

The wail of a dying man doesn’t sound that bad

At least it makes killing an adventurous fad.

Jail house calls me by name

Courts acknowledge crime is my game

Poverty understands I’m not to blame

Starvation justifies I don’t do it for fame.

Even nature knows I’m not easy to tame

Socially displaced

So I’m disgraced

I’m poor and not educated

But, do I deserve to be eliminated?

Must my bloodline be terminated?

They say misfits like me deserve no favours

They have neither choices nor flavours

Shanties are their only option

Luxury is just an illusion……

My gun is the only way out of this commotion.

MY ROSE FLOWER

 I envy a rose flower
I envy its rosy fragrance
I envy its splendid elegance
I envy your angelic elegance too
You're a rose midst thorny branches
You're a sojourner who survives life's avalanches
You're a soul soldier who never flinches
You're  a ripe grape on the top branches
I who fondles you is proud!

NJOYA

Man of God

What song shall you sing?

Now that katiba has been born

Long after you experienced labour pains

On behalf of a mother subdued by dictatorship

Oh what great mercy you portrayed

Suffering on behalf of mama Kenya

Who was then suffocating in tear gas.

African warrior

What story shall you tell your grandchildren?

As they walk on tarmacked roads

Learn in decent classrooms

Know not of tribalism

Know not of a beast called corruption

See not of police brutality

Hear not of starving humanity.

The great one

What explanation shall you give?

When they ask why

They can criticize the system and get away

Speak out their minds

Without fear of torture chambers

Exercise their rights

Without watching over their shoulders.

The brave one

What tale shall you tell them?

When the open minded

Were greeted with terror and torture

The defiant painted with colours of traitors

The rebellious forced into exile

The caring branded as callous

The merciful put to detention without trial.

Father of change

Will you not ask for an explanation?

Why Jaramogi, Shikuku, Matiba, Rubia, Muite, Orengo……….

Had to live like wild gazelles, always on the run

Why Alexander Muge………………

Why you were beaten almost to death

By enemies of change

Proving further their greed for power.

Messenger of peace

Why will you now not dance with me?

This song of freedom and praise

For in you Kenya found solace

When tyranny would offer none

In you this new born was conceived

On your belief Kenya trod the road to liberation

In your forgiving spirit

Kenyans will forgive and forget.

PLEASE LET THEM LIVE

Oh God I watched
Watched as they smashed
Open our door
Watched as they reigned terror
On my mum
The sickly woman
Whose only sin was

Working hard
I,I,I.......Oh no!
As they tore apart
The virginity my young sister

Had for so long guarded
I wished I could be spared

The ugly sight

Of helpless eyes pleading

But my head and eyelids

They held up

I wished I couldn’t

Hear the cry of agony

But my hands were tied

My ears wide open

I wished I could save them

From the inhumanity

But at gun point

Heroism isn’t an option
I watched in desperation

I could do nothing about it
Except feeling the pain
Of innocence being terrorized

Oh God, I watched

But could do nothing about it
Except to write this piece in tears.

STRAY BULLET

Stray bullet

Like a puppet

Manipulated

To stray

Hits an innocent

Stray boy

In the chest

Stray bullet

Blames

The culprit

Claims

He’s a bandit

Felled on a hot

Bullet pursuit

Stray bullet’s case

Is void

Just an accident

No devil devoid
Of black magic

Could avoid

Stray bullet

From a stray cop

With a stray gun

More so

A stray brain.