WHEN YOU ARE AWAY

I hum tunes with no rhythm
I speak words with no meaning
I dance to routines with no drum-beats
I dream of emptiness
I talk of hopelessness
I plan for loneliness.

I drown in tears
I shrink in fear
I surrender to life's rear
I engage emotional low gear
My conscience is never clear
Thinking I'm the cause of the tear.

So next time when you plan to leave
Notify me so I can plan for the grief
So I may know it's just for a while
That you'll be back to return my smile
Next time lend me your caring heart
So I may hold it close to mine at night
Next time leave behind your lips
So I may kiss them goodnight before I sleep
Next time leave your love below my pillow
So from it my dreams will flow.

LITTLE BOY AT HEART

I play like a little boy
I roll in the mud muddling with my toys
I play hide and seek and drown in childhood joy
I look in the mirror, to my amusement
I've already grown a beard
I can sense teenage is no longer with me
I can feel twenties flowing out of my veins
Yet I'm still a little boy at heart
Jovial, innocent, playful........
Yet as stubborn as can be
Whenever life demands that I be.

DEAR PENIS

This is not just a letter
But a struggle to break away
From your friendship cage
You of the hyena dynasty
One that vets not its prey
So you taught me to feed
On the remnants of the lion kingdom.

Under your iron fist
You've led me to carcase feast
I foolishly devour along
Even the rotten beasts
You have infected me
With a malady called greed
Where a full tummy is all that matters.

So we feed on sickly wild pigs for breakfast
Compete with vultures for tea break
Haggle over one long-dead gazelle for lunch
A thousand of us each a piece of the corpse
We wait for others to kill the prey
To enjoy the best the jungle can offer
While we later scramble in the garbage bin.

I now must find a new friend
One of the lion kingdom
One who patiently studies the herd
One who picks on the tender prey
Without blemish and for himself
Chases till from it he sips fresh juices of life
One to whom a carcase is an abomination
One who despises  remnants of other predators.

 

ME VS ME WHO ISN'T ME

He speaks within me,
The me who is not me
He tells me
That I don't belong here
That I should stage a search
For my roots.

He speaks within me
The me who is me
He pats my shoulder gently
Tells me,
Son, search not
For its here, where you belong.

He speaks within me
The me who isn't me
He rattles my comfort
He stirs the pond
Later settling at the bottom
When ripples die off
He disfigures my identity
And like a complex jigsaw
It takes eternity to re figure
He claims I have a funny long nose
Unlike my sister's which is flat
Like one of a true Bantu
He says I'm dumb in class
Quite unlike my mother
Who always topped
He drives me nuts 
With his constant reminder
That I'm not the me I claim to be..

He speaks within me
The me who is me
He is caring and compassionate
He reminds me of old days
When children belonged
To the society
He cuddles me closely
He assures me
That it's not looks that matter 
Neither traits nor genes
He insists it's the heart
The soul, the touch
The scare when sickness engulfs at midnight
The joy when growth milestones are achieved......

He strongly insists its the love;
Even conception is a child of lovemaking!


Identity is the soul of any human being, lack of it is disastrous especially in an African setting, confusion about it is even more catastrophic  regardless of the setting. What really defines ones identity?

KAMUNYAK (THE BLESSED ONE)

Hers was a big heart
So big it defied laws
Of the jungle
So big predator instincts
Didn't stand a chance.

She defied her very kind
Stood by what
Was naturally unnatural
Starved while her supposed prey
Played along with her tail.

Her memory thrives within me
The tender touches
The comforting cuddles
The unwavering generosity
The endless affection..........

Her story made news
Hollywood came knocking
Theatres bust with crowds
Word went out like bush fire
History books were written:

About a weird creature
About an unnatural motherhood
About defiance towards laws of nature
About dumping of predatory culture 
About the number of tourists
About foreign exchange earned

But none
About the LOVE so rare
That an oryx found inside a lair.

  

 Kamunyak (meaning "Blessed one") was a lioness who had adopted six oryx calves in the Samburu National Reserve, Kenya.

KAWAIRIMU

Little Wairimu, little Wairimu
Little dove of my heart
Little girl come I'll sing
For you a lullaby.

Peace loving like a little dove
Sweet voice like the weaver bird
Smoothness of ripe sweet bananas
Come closer so I sing for you:

Little Wairimu, little Wairimu
Little dove of my heart
Little girl come I'll sing
For you a lullaby.

Brown but not too brown
Dark but not too dark
We can only call it chocolate
Come closer so I sing for you:

Little Wairimu, little Wairimu
Little dove of my heart
Little girl come I'll sing
For you a lullaby.

Teeth, white as milk
A heart, pure as snow
Love, expansive as the sea
Come closer so I sing for you:

Little Wairimu, little Wairimu
Little dove of my heart
Little girl come I'll sing
For you a lullaby.

When she's near my heart beats hard
My ears sweat profusely
Even my hands tremble
Come closer so I sing for you:

Little Wairimu, little Wairimu
Little dove of my heart
Little girl come I'll sing
For you a lullaby.

When you see her, tell her I'm lonely
I lack joy in my heart
Life has lost taste
Come closer so I sing for you:

Little Wairimu, little Wairimu
Little dove of my heart
Little girl come I'll sing
For you a lullaby.


*This is a translation of a song  I originally composed for my wife in my native language Gikuyu. But which I find to be as poetic as any other piece I've written before.

JUST A PIECE FOR PEACE

Grant me leave oh peace

To recite this humble piece

To make some literary noise

To break into your precocious silence

To positively provoke you

To stage a coup

Against agents of twisted truth.

Grant me leave oh peace

To recite this humble piece

Just to say

How much we need you peace

Midst these sectarian red faces

Decorated with withered red roses

Immersed in hateful dry vases

Hoisted on tribal aces.

Grant me leave oh peace

To place politicians’ inciting words

On my poetic sieve

To let through

Only what is fit

For mass consumption

Relevant to ethnic integration

Antidote for financial segregation.

Grant me leave oh peace

I beg you on my knees

To be patient with us as we stitch

Together our moral panties

Now melting away like cheese

On a hot pan of injustice

Ignited by our souls labeled “to lease”

In a balkanized political feast.

Grant me leave oh peace

To recite this humble piece

Solemnly requesting you peace

To please stay with us

As we sweep out

Injustice from our house

As we mop out segregation

Out of our nation

As we crush out corruption

As we eliminate starvation

As we flush out

The remnants of the hateful filth

We are fed on everyday

Please peace

Be here to stay.

Grant me leave oh peace

To recite this humble piece

In peace

To sew together the pieces

Of this coat of 42 hues

To provide you

With the warmth you need

To keep you

From taking leave, oh peace