MOGANDISHU

What ails you my old jewel
That your once adorable streets
Are now tributaries of a massive river
Of blood
What demon lurks midst your people
Oh child of my mother's bosom
It's my tears that now fall
Won't you now heed to my call
Won't you wipe your children's tears
You whom we shared the same womb
You whose soul has suddenly turned a tomb.

I've witnessed mothers desperately cling
To their dry skeleton kids
As their husband are brutally maimed
Massacred, murdered
I've witnessed scared juvenile eyes
Eyes devoid of faith in humanity
I've seen ruins of once glorious mansions
I've heard of hard-line aggression
As your own pride you plunge to oblivion.

I once knew of your peaceful pre-occupation
Your humanity respecting heart
Your merciful and vibrant spirit
What ails you now
Oh child of my mother's bos

I CRY FOR THE RICH

They heaved me up in a dank cell
They tortured me, squeezed my eyes
Oh God it was hell
My only crime being drank and disorderly
Along Koinange Street
Where a quiet bargain was on next to a black merc.

Early next morning they kicked my butt
Out of the station way before breakfast was served
After all I didn't even pay for the bedbug bed
Why did I expect some even half cup naked uji?
I was warned to remain in the part of the city
Where cheap prostitutes like me can have a say.

Later on Sipping some keg in a hovel down Luthuli 
I pitied those who rave in the real city
Where prostitution is no  crime
Where walking half naked isn't immorral
Where drinking a whole barrel of imported red wine
With your thirteenth mpango wa kando
Is more than okay, very gentlemanly indeed.

I felt for the dear sons and daughters of uptown
Where watching a nude your-mothers-age-mate on-line
Whatever that means!
Where getting a pizza courtesy of your old-man's-pall
For a jig after the company dinner
Is dimmed cool, no policeman would dare interupt.

At least down here
There are cops and straight-from -village folks
To be wary of.

WHENEVER I MEET HER

Whenever I meet her on the street
When her dove eyes meet mine
As they crush the softest part of my heart
I wonder loudly
What is it about her?

Whenever she smiles at me at the cafe
When the ice in my soul begins to melt
At the sight of  her snow teeth
I tremble at the thought of asking
What it is that she possesses.

Whenever I imagine her trim fingers sprawling my body
Crawling to the core of my manhood
Like they caress the wine glass at the beach bar
Where I now sit across the high stool
She is elegantly perched on.
I can feel spasms of passion spiraling down my spine.

Her brown thighs speckled with sand
Fresh from the beach
Swim suit tightly clinging  to her wet body
Emphasizing further her baby guard breasts
A blend of sweat and sea water
Glitters on her round dimpled tomato cheeks.

As if by accident our eyes meet in a flash
She smiles, her full lips massaging the brim, winks at me
Waving her slim fingers romantically
I lost in a frenzy of excitement and fear
Shy off in cowardly gesture
She shakes her head in a disapproving frown.

Now she disembarks from the stool
Comes and leans behind me
Her soft bust sponging my brain
She prosaically murmers
''What is it about me boy, that scares you crazy?''
Long before I can answer she walks off
Her pumpkin bottoms titillating behind her
Leaving me foolishly ashamed.