Escolar Documentos
Profissional Documentos
Cultura Documentos
THE
NIGHT RUNNERS
POETRY BY
WILSON NDERITO
2
PREFACE
When I started working on this document, I never thought it would have ended up as the manuscript it is
today. In the beginning these were just individual poems written to satisfy my love for writing. This project
has taken me 10 years (since 1997) and it is still nowhere near complete. It is my sincere hope though that
you, the reader, will benefit in some way from this work. I'm in no way convinced that this is the best
poetry there is (for what author sincerely ever is?), but I put it forward to you as some of the best work
that I have done. Thank you. Please reach me on wnderito79@yahoo.com
o r Tel: 0722263620 with any
suggestions, complaints and/or complements. I would really appreciate it.
ACKOWLEDGEMENTS
The people that have over the years been instrumental in some way or the other in the production of this
document are too numerous to be individually listed here. However, they know themselves and my sincere
appreciation goes to them for leading, guiding, correcting and encouraging me through all the drama...
Thank you all very much.
I would sincerely like to thank Mrs. Kamau too (my literature teacher in high school), for introducing me to
literature and poetry, and for her patience, my family, both nuclear and extended (especially my mother... in
her position I honestly guess I'd have given up!) who managed the almost impossible feat of bringing me up
to be who I am, and all my friends for their support and for believing in me even when I didn't believe in
myself. Thank you all and may God bless you lots.
DOCUMENT CONVENTIONS
I will not suggest a way or format that you should go through or read this document. Let your interest lead
you, but let's clarify one or two things. To me, language is just a matter of semantics, so if you come across
some sentence(s) that doesn't seem to make sense, don't worry . I probably had no idea too how to express
myself in proper English. Please realize too that I am expressing myself from a distinctly African point of
view so... and anyway, some things just don't make too much sense when written in straight school book
English.
Wherever you see two stars (**), they mark the beginning or end of an individual poem. Some of these
poems may not seem to have properly defined conclusions, but I intended that to be the case (please don't
ask me why!). Also, none of the poems is titled. The answer to that is also quite simple and straight
forward... I had not the slightest idea what to call most of them, so even the ones that I had titles for I
simply left untitled.
Copyright 2007 ©.
All rights reserved. No part of this document may be reproduced, copied or stored in any retrieval system or transmitted in any
form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the express prior permission in
writing of the author. This work is intellectual property and is protected under the Copyright Act, 2001, Kenya Copyright Board,
The Republic of Kenya.
3
**
The entrance to his thieving
Majesty’s vast economic palace
Was guarded by an acre or so
Of solidly expansive antiquated
Mahogany
And as I sat waiting, I jealously
Surveyed the trappings of high
Office
**
Everything we did was done
In haste, racing against schedules
That marched haphazardly to
Nowhere in particular but forward
Nonetheless
Always in ceaseless and devout
Pursuit of deadlines that remained
Constant only in their absurdity,
But changed in content like the
Evening chorus of birdsong
**
Every phantom face I see
Is in a carnival mood, and
I may just have stumbled
Upon the realization that I
May be aware, probably even
Capable of enlightened thought
**
I have sometimes been known
To engage in lengthy discourses
On subjects that had no matter
The cremation of a thought is
4
An enterprise I have quite avidly
Followed to nebulous purgatory
But as in the Grecian context
Love can be a shark in shallow
Waters… or perhaps a baboon?
**
Their virtuous monologues
Are meant to extol democracy
And cover up the malaise
Of their crass insensibilities
Building upon speeches of
Morally deficient acquiesce
They promise the impossible
But so as not to be remembered
For their shameless corruptions
They quickly shelter in opulent
Decadence, and roundly
Castigate their peers
**
In fleeting beauty they sojourned
For half of all eternity…
In primordial night the cosmos
Evolved through dreadfully
Glorious stellar births and deaths;
The world was sundered across
Endless vacuums that sang
Of rebirth…
Here, they could spend an
Eternity creating a butterfly,
And redeem it watching her evolve
**
5
Therefore ladies and gentlemen,
The result of my addiction is
An economic elegance and a
Recently acquired poise
Thus I am, and in so being,
Entirely total;
A molecular niche in a
Largely malevolent society
**
In full battle regalia
I parade, and the full
Moon acknowledges me
By the streams I have
Eaten their pride…
I reign supreme
I am six of them;
None dare mention my
Name out loud
**
Another sunset spread crimson
Fire over the Aberdares and
Gloriously faded away;
Twilight evolved musically
Into night as darkness sang
Into ever deepening dark…
A tapestry of closely held
Secrets, shuffling… lingering…
Onward to curious dawn
**
When she cried, it was from
A feeling born of helpless
Innocence;
6
Each tear was heavy as the
Earth…
But when she smiled she was
A vision of beauty, and I
Would not have challenged
Creation
I knew her as unutterably
Gorgeous… O she is
Unrighteously beautiful
**
Time stretches forth in blind
Resolve, and I return my soul
To the past… unleashed;
Many are the times I recalled
Beethoven, mostly laid out
By the uncultured as some
Incongruous notes scribbled
Over the ebbing hangovers
Of a psychotic tide…
Often we came here
Braving dizzying heights
To meditate, dream, or
Just be
Twilight waxed as the
Sun slowly trudged west
**
I watched him create and
Then destroy reality
I barely understood for in
My opinion, only the most
Devout had ever supplicated
Before an altar with such
7
Utter devotion
O for her ministrations he
Yearned outrageously…
She was beatified in his
Unsolicited attentions
**
The drink was imperial…
Majestic;
Every sip was a course in
Subtle grandeur
It hallowed the palate and
Flashed rainbows in the
Bloodstream
When intoxication became
Manifest, I knew a beauty
That superseded art
**
For fourty journeys of the
Moon across the heavens I
Have ceaselessly sought
Something of great and
Magnificent importance
Fourty dreams of howling
Winds and prowling beasts…
In this life a man’s duties
Are myriad and difficult
And as always, all obstacles
Must be braved, for beyond
the uncertainty of every
Unpredictable tomorrow,
Glorious marvels lie in wait
For the brave and the heroic
8
**
She walked ahead, or shall
I say strutted, while I ambled
Along about a meter or two
In arrears utterly stunned
Had the corridor been longer
My esteemed hosts may have
As a matter of urgency been
Forced to hastily summon
Certain partakers of the
Hippocratic oath
**
To answer the question as to
Why I had been so arrogantly
Dragged unwilling and kicking
In this most uncivilized manner
By my neck to such an ill
Conceived kangaroo court
Without prior appointment
I believe my honest response
Would be that in actual fact
Certain perplexities had indeed
Crossed my mind
**
Remember them too, ye
Selfish gentry of the world
For they have also fought
Gallant and epic battles
Through bitter wars that
Had atrocious beginnings
And hellish ends they have
Steadfastly endured…
9
Like the ancient trees
Not once have the confusions
Of battle nor the loneliness
Of death deterred or dulled
Their spirits;
They would fight for their
Rights and those of their
Children for as long as a man
Amongst them still had breath
**
No road ever walks alone
And on this journey that’s
My life, my dreams are my
Only constant companions
They are my cautious voice
Of reason
They are my confidence
They are my light as they
Lead me to places of great
Reward
They are my wisdom…
They are a pillow for my
Battered soul when
I can walk no more
**
In our mad rush
Through life in search of
Glory and fame, rarely do
We reflect upon or value
The simple and ordinary
Things around us…
Simple and precious truths
As love, faith… friendship
10
In a world where only the
Flashy, expensive and fancy
Is considered beautiful
We forget that its in the silence
Of ordinary things that we
Eventually find ourselves
**
From the coast to the
Highlands, corruption has
Become our daily bread
With the rich growing ever
Richer, and the poor poorer
Ours my friend, is poverty
Through mismanagement
With violence as a standard
And land grabbing a culture,
Our enlightened politics of
Division carve our nation into
Tiny tribal fiefdoms;
Isn’t it just amazing how an
Able republic wanders far
Abroad, cup in hand?
**
The night is a mad warrior
Swinging a war club through
The land as dawn’s faint light
Shines off dewdrops in the
Grass like so many lost diamonds
Will the sun shine again and
Lead flowers in song?
I will rejoice if this day is as
Forgiving as others have been
In the past
11
**
Show me where beauty blooms
Where love whistles her mysterious
Tunes to moonlit nights;
Tell me where the flutes of
Joy blow their enchanting notes…
Where birds of paradise sing
Their colourful songs
Shall some kindly breeze carry
To me an answer, and in gentle
Puffs and measured breath whisper
It to mine ear?
Or maybe a neighbourly stream
Hear of my quest, and in gladness
Reveal the answer to music as
He follows the course to freedom?
Perhaps the serene trees
Understand me as I sit lonesome
Amongst them…
Will they hear me dream of
The quietness of peace, and
Maybe of the promise of a
Better tomorrow?
**
If possibly I could dream a
Dream that would come true,
I would dream of music under
A star studded sky,
Music that would sweet and
Endlessly play all night long
If I could wish a wish that
Could be granted, I would
12
Wish for the heart and soul
Of nature in all her grace, a
Warm bright sun all day long…
For April showers and the
Magic of morning
If I should say a prayer that
Might be answered, I would
Pray that you’d understand me;
I would ask to hear your voice
In the moody songs of evening…
To feel your comforting touch
In the flowers
**
Fourty dreams ago I knew
Her;
Fourty ages of silky skirts
And wafting clouds of rose
Fragrance I danced to her
Enchanting songs
Fourty dreams ago I dreamt
Of her;
Fourty wishes of sitting upon
A star watching the rainbow
Advise the moon on how to
Groom herself… and again
In fourty more wishes the
Seasons changed yet again
After fourty eternities I now
Finally meet her, this dream
But tell me friends, would fourty
Love songs impress her…
Or fourty poems maybe?
**
13
To be acceptable is to drown
In rivers of pure malted, quality
Brewed lagers, local and foreign
Want to be cool?
Then clouds of multinational
Tobacco smoke is the way to go
Manhood is a string of steamy
Romances, shielded by the
Latest advertised protection
Life they say, is all merriment
And should death pay us a visit,
We shall dance on his head
We say capitalism is the way
Ecommerce our religion, and
Salvation for fools
What impressive irony then
When on our deathbeds we cry
“God, why me? Save me!”
**
Let us play still, for
The sun hasn’t gone home
Yet, nor have the early stars
Lit their distant fires…
And the moon is still shy
To show her face
Mother let us play still…
Are the fires lit?
We shall come when the
Night steals the warmth
Of day, and grandma’s kitchen
Beckons for story time
14
**
They’ve slept for a long
Time yet their dreams are
Still the dreams of youth;
And even as the long days
And even longer nights drag
Themselves like a wounded
Animal…
For many seasons they’ve
Mourned a certain loss,
A loss so deep and profound
It could only be remembered
Under certain individual trees…
To the enchanted tears of
Falling leaves through gently
Rising mists
**
This particular December
Morning unfolded with the
Promise of warmth and
Fragrant new growth
Along with it came birdsong
And rainbows and warthog the
Size of a small fat dog;
Ugly like poison… black as
A curse
**
Among all of nature’s children
There is none with the kind of
Beauty and passion you possess
Tell me your dreams so they
Can be mine too
15
**
Time is a slow and deep
River, and all of life an
Eddying current astray in
This vast and endlessly
Complicated game;
What are dreams but dim
And distant stars?
Or change, hope and lots
Of other things human, that
Like the first plum blossoms
Bloom to die a glorious death?
But is death the end of all we
Know, or only a new beginning…
Maybe even a continuation?
**
This story, like all good
Stories has its beginning
In the addled mists of some
Long forgotten past
Perhaps I grow senile, or
Maybe my mind, like a long
Worn garment fades and thins?
Whether then this is a long
Hidden but well orchestrated
Mockery I may possibly never
Know, but in this mother earth
Where strange voices and
Even stranger mysteries abide,
Stories must be told
So, a long time ago, deep
16
In the mists of the Aberdares…
**
A kingfisher and a flycatcher
Strive for aerial dominance as
My mind and my soul jostle
For eternal permanence
…amidst this cacophonic
Charade I look back at
My footprints and hear
Them whisper to me of
Faded glories
Along the banks of this
Peaceful stream, the wind
And the current lead lilies
In distinctly Arabian dances
**
A lot precedes everything
Else, and even some lonely
Roads run to hopeful ends
**
…and my dreams lie smouldering
Like ashes of devastation in
The valleys that fashion hope
I am an artist with an obscure
Trade and no tools…
a trader in the
marketplace without merchandise
Many aspects of my life are
Dictated by men that have no
Idea how the world out here
Operates
17
Yet formulate policy like they
Were the ones that led
Convoys of disagreeable camels
In pursuit of ever diminishing
Impenetrable and often
Hostile markets
**
And to think I actually
Believed that pigs flew
But does not the wind
Give wings to insanity?
Why not ask this road then
But this road is a hairy
Warthog with a rather mean
Spirit and… and … who
Cares anyway
Doesn’t this night die an
Eventful death?
My first thought though
Is, does he not lie at every
Turn?
That the world is a ball
And the stars are just
Holes in heaven’s carpet;
Maybe there really is truth
In the saying that when it
Rains on a sunny day
There is a great hyena’s
Wedding in heaven
**
As a black rhino is
Short sighted, yet
Covers his imperfections
18
In senseless aggression
So does my friend
She is of a singular
Mind and purpose
Darkly unrepentant…
A shark prowling the vast
Deeps of humanity
Thus has she modelled us
To be governed by sheer
Selfishness and endless malice…
Ceaselessly scavenging on the
Debris of my insecurities
**
As evening strode idly into
Night, birds abridged twilight
In song, and the wind hummed
The day’s summary of all that
Had been, and all that would
Become
It smelt of grass, of cattle…
The moon assigned different
Names to the content bleats
Of sheep;
Smoke rose from carefully
Tended hearths, while the
Voices of children at play
Wrapped their arms cheerfully
Around the night…;
I sat with myself and rendered
The village in gradually fading
Colours
**
At some point I know this
19
Charade has to stop;
I know that the flowers of the
Past need to die so that the
Flowers of tomorrow may bloom
This need not mean the end
To all, but simply a metamorphosis
And though change never is easy
To accept, this roll over shall
Either confirm and cement our
Friendship as we have come to
Know it, or negate everything…
And maybe some more
**
By the time I’m through
Telling you this, even you
Will agree that a goat’s
Boiled head has wisdom
I have carved many of
The parts of my life from
Hopeless recycle, and lost
Both the beginning and
The end
Then left the smoothing,
Even of those edges that
I knew nothing about or
Remembered, to be finished
By speculation in the marketplace
**
Certainly age bestows a
Certain admirable quality on
Experience
Just think of all the heedless
20
Declarations I made while
Basking in the enchanting
Warmth of delicately scented
Perfumes
Or the promises I swore to
Fulfil under gently moonlit
Skies
**
Chronic dismissals are all
My soul has ever known;
Silence is a drum I learnt
To beat since my childhood,
Lost in the epidemic quagmire
Of dire innocence
And like some lonesome
Phantom fish
I wish I were a boat
**
Consciousness or my soul
(I’m not quite sure which had
Left) returned to me slowly and
In hesitant bits, like someone
Ashamed of coming home
He just looked at me as if
Considering some exotic
Ancient stone, not at all very
Sure what to make of it, then
Nodded slowly, and with a
Very apparent air of immense
Stupidity, strode back in
**
Everything had been okay
21
Even the sun was content to
Shine upon satisfied souls;
It was a wonderful day, the
Kind that quietly dawns in
Understanding dreams
I was alone
It was quiet
There was music
I was slightly inebriated…
It was under these perfect
Conditions that I made the
Mistake of pulling aside the
Curtains and looking too keenly
At my soul
**
Fatigue like this should
Long ago have been declared
Highly treasonable, and this
Ache in my joints weighs
Like a cardinal sin
Just the thought of a
Relaxing hot shower was
An indulgence best experienced
In solitude, but once in the bathroom
The poorly regulated scalding
Cascade was hedonism in
Its purest form
**
Fertility is a subject roosters
Have taught since time first
Learnt to crawl
And cattle have mastered
The art of idling by making
22
It seem placidly industrious
But timeless wisdom my
Dear, is learning the best
Point at which to cross a road
And for this insight one may
Only ask the sheep… they aren’t
As daft as they’ve made us believe
**
For every calf that is born
A bull elephant will have
Staged extraordinary feats
Through each migration,
An individual wildebeest will
Have overcome insurmountable odds
And for every river crossing,
Some unfortunate crocodile shall
Know the wrath of a desperate
Zebra’s kick
**
For the lack of a comb
The policeman calls me
A thug
Due to lack of a proper
Education, every employer
Considers me a liability
For my thin wallet
And even thinner hopes
They indiscriminately label
Me a brewer of illicit spirits
23
And upon the death
Of my dreams they deem
Me a menace to their
Civilized society
**
Give me a poem
A poem with more
Feeling than all other
Poems combined
Sing me a song
A song that out chorals
The dove’s and the cricket’s…
A song for me, only me
Show me the way
A path that alone walks
Ahead of all other paths,
Empty of footprints
Give me you
Not the one the world
Knows, but a you for me
To discover, and maybe
Grow old with
**
Have I not walked down
Many a lost and deserted
Path, and sat with the contemplative
Silences of dusk?
Have I not listened with
Gladness to many an itinerant
Bird, and heard the secretive
Murmurs of the lake?
24
What of all the unfulfilled dreams
I saw mirrored in the eyes of
Captive fish, and of streams
I serenaded to hopeful ends?
Let’s put it this way my
Darling, I love you, beyond
The meeting places of gossip
And malice, and please let
That be all that needs to
Be known
**
How I wish these long
Days and ageless nights
Would quietly hurry on
To distant lands
The battles we have fought
Generally outclassed world
Wars, for they were the
Results of embittered souls;
Don't we still carry the
Scars of meaningless conflict?
I try to find logic in fair
Fights, but I now realize we
Could save ourselves a lot of
Heartbreak and resentment
By walking down the more
Confusing roads of understanding
And forgiveness… for once
Just learn to hold hands with
Simple dialogue
**
I’ve lingered so long over
Who I am and what I could
25
Have been, that I now don’t
Know what to believe in
Any more
And in my ceaseless search for
Myself, I have left so many
Dreams behind… probably
On paths that had subtle hints
To the ends I so devoutly sought
**
I’ve grown to like and appreciate
My own company, and I now know
The fine line that separates loneliness
And being alone
It’s quite a new experience, to
Listen to one’s heart in unbiased
Tones day after day, and wean
The truth from conjecture…
To hear the soul beat in tune
With the self
**
I can see well enough my dear,
Probably even better than you
Can, but though you say she is
Every man’s dream (which is true),
I cannot hold conversation with
A perfectly attired figure or reason
With just a pretty face
What I need is an understanding
Heart, one that is willing to
Maintain an objective outlook,
Is at peace with itself, and realizes
That the universe doesn’t exist
Only for the self
26
**
I don’t know what happened.
My ears fell eternally into the
Throbbing black hole that
Was my head…
The bottom of my thoughts
Dropped off, and someone
Turned every part of my soul
Inside out like a wet sock
And all this in the pleasantly
Terrible sighs of song
**
I followed the river from
Its humble youth, all the way
Down the plains of maturity
Until it poured it’s mighty
Wealth of experience into the
Endless deeps
I flew with the wind from
His home in the eastern ranges
And kept him company as he
Whistled through the forest,
Giving purpose and freedom
To the songs of birds
I walked in silent companionship
With this road, and though
He declined to tell me his name
He encouraged me to tarry awhile
By his side and understand the
Various faces of humanity
How they loved and warred
In consequent breaths;
27
How the young lost their
Innocence and the old their
Patience…
How God loved us then, and
Still does
**
I guess I’ve seen much more
Drama in my lifetime than I’d
Care to catalogue on a long
And lazy evening
Thus I now wonder if this is
Just one more string in an
Ever lengthening rope of
Recurrence, or maybe an extra
Stain of experience in the vast
Multihued fabric that’s
My existence
**
I guess something in the
Wind has finally learnt my
Name, for in his undulating
Rhythm through the trees, and
From the conversations he has
With the innocent flowers of
Dawn, I hear him gently whisper
To me that with time, everything
Shall work out just fine
**
I have danced with the
Elephants and known strength
I have tangled with the
Buffalo and appreciated power
28
I have evolved with the
Leopard and understood subtlety…
I have held you…, and
Discovered freedom
**
I have no more days or
Nights…
I chase problems and seek
Solutions through endless hours
That have idle beginnings…
Past carefully timed chambers of
Duty that draw to crazy conclusion
I have moved my home to the
Office, and at some point left
The rest of my life waiting at
A junction that I have no
Recollection of
I’m thus not so sure where
To go back to, or how else
To go forth;
I somehow seem to have a
Strongly ingrained compunction
To work for meaningless reward
**
I have searched keenly all
Known distances and listened
Quite intently to the wind;
I’d hoped he’d bring me some
Of the more pertinent answers
To every question I had asked
Of life, but he just stood there,
A little way off, and whispered
Foolishly to some nearby
29
Deformed tree trunks
**
I now know that truth
Is a cloth, an incomprehensible
Multiplicity of hues and
Shadows and shapes;
A cover to be worn and just
As quickly discarded with
Every seasonal change
It’s a dark cave
An opportunistic wind
A road that comes from
A troubled and confused
Past, and once it gets to the
Present, cannot decide where
To go next
So he lies, prowling some
Darkened shade like a leopard,
Recounting faded glories of youth
**
I ride the winds that
I may discover the world…
I walk in rain that I
May understand reconciliation…
I seek the darkness, that I
May find myself… eventually
**
I sought to know the answers
To all mysteries, so I asked
My friends
The earth was kind and whispered
30
To me the secrets of the forest
And savannah, of the rivers
And the mighty gorges they
Carve in their itinerant
Meanderings, of the mountains
And their gloomy caves…
Of the beauties of her wild children
The sky too taught me the
Ways of the wind, the warm
Journeys of the sun, of the aloof
And serene moon… of the distant
Stars and unsearchable night
But the sea thought me impudent
And hid her moody nature
From me, though she told me this;
Seek not too far abroad the secrets
Of life, but look closer home
Within your soul, and be content
To know that God knows you
**
I tend to believe there’s
A lot more to life than
Just beginnings or ends;
There are so many in
Betweens that literally
Beg to be considered…
Maybe even understood
**
If every dream of mine
Comes true, I swear the stars
Tonight shall shine only
For you;
I’ll ask the clouds to stay
Home awhile, and the
31
Breezes of dusk have
Promised to carry to us the
Unabridged songs of twilight
If only wishes were horses,
I’d wish for a golden stallion...
Saddle him with sunrise,
Bridle him with diamonds
And precious gems…
Shoe him with the wind and music
Then I’d take you to a place
Of great beauty far away that
The sunset shall lead us, and
There my dear, we shall hold
Court with poetry and dreams
**
If I dared dream of more,
Then all dreams would end…
And if I dared wish for less,
Wouldn’t all other wishes
Lose meaning?
Hope is a poison without
Cure, and it destroys me
In a slow cadence of pleasure
And pain
Men have since time immemorial
Moved heaven and earth for
Much less, thus I’m inadequately
At a loss of what more to move;
Have I not both built and destroyed,
All in the single breath of a
Transient thought?
But this one thing remains
In my little paradise where I
32
Wait and think of you always;
Music is born the moment
You smile
**
If one thinks that these
Magnificent warriors saw nothing
But eternal paradise beyond
The glory of self sacrifice and
Heartbreaking courage under
Gentle blue skies in foreign
Lands, it must be remembered
Too that they had a very intimate
Knowledge of hell in blood soaked
Battlefields
**
If tomorrow shall always
Remain an undreamt dream,
Then all I want you to walk
With is the firm knowledge
That I have always loved you
Let us go to some place
Quiet, where all drama shall
Remain a short sprint in
The timeless marathons of life
For if the truth be told out
Loud, you are the only shoulder
I ever cried upon without fear
For my manhood
**
In some communities I try
To shed a little light here,
And give a little heat elsewhere;
In the forests where tropical
33
Scents mingle with birdsong,
I take a careful minute to
Gently stroke flowers to life
And investigate the early
Morning colours of the wind
But hazy rising mists sometimes
Dampen my more generous
Moods… and today my dear,
Looks like its just going to be
Another long walk across an
Already too familiar sky
**
In the end, in the final
End, what will the world
Say when they know for
Sure all the nation’s sons
And daughters you consigned
To a premature grave for the
Sake of your political ideology,
From all those perceived threats?
Maybe you will say it was
Important, or that they were the
Imprudent casualties of war,
Or even that desperate times
Call for desperate measures
But are your sons not at home,
Safe?
What becomes then of those
That weep for their children
Whose bones lie cold and
Forgotten in unfamiliar soils
Without a headstone to
Mark their passing?
34
**
Inhibition can sometimes be
An excellent friend or an
Implacable enemy;
I remember those days…
Times when I had wanted
To tell you certain things…
One of these days I hope
To take you to a place of
Serene solitude far away, and
Maybe there, under the shade
Of some understanding tree I’ll
Bravely bare my soul
**
Just because I seek out
Contemplative silences doesn’t
Necessarily mean I’m shallow
Or obtuse
Maybe simple oddities and
The quiet breath of nature
Are the antidotes to life’s
Complications that I need…
But to see a flower in bloom,
To experience the beauty of a
Setting sun…, maybe music to
Me is in the different sighs of
The wind
**
Let me walk with a calm
Face among my clansmen
And share only happy
Experiences with my friends
For whom amongst them has
35
Seen into my soul?
But alone in the woods
I quietly chase the peace
Of a flower in bloom;
O how I long for the
Enchantments of breezy
Music from carefree birds
That know not the price
Of hate
Please, thou gentle winds that
Comfort the night, blow;
Blow my dears, that I may
Finally know rest
**
Like all romantic restaurants
Anywhere in the civilized world,
This particular one was run entirely
On expensive pretence and slow
Love songs
**
Lord, I believe in the sun
Even when it’s hidden in
The clouds
In the seed, even when
It’s still under the earth
In faith, even when I’m
Lost and desperate
In love, even when I’m
Alone and friendless…
In hope, even when I’m
36
Hurt and blinded by tears
In you, even when you don’t
Seem to answer my prayers
**
Maybe I am too absorbed
In meaningless findings to
Appreciate truth from
Humble origins;
Is it not a promise when
The skies darken and the
Musky scents of wet earth
Rise to freedom?
Convince me then that the
Skins did not speak tonight;
Glorious touches on leather
That elevate even goats to
Positions of grandiose inspiration
Tell me, how many here would
Not give a choice bull just to
Be able to commune with the
Gods? to speak of great things…
Tell of tribal secrets?
She carries the promise of
Immortality, and only my
Fingers can stroke dead leather
To vibrant life
**
My dear, a committee, any
Committee is just a gathering
Of well meaning individuals
That come together with the
Sole purpose of finding a solution
37
Yet end up wound in the tangled ropes
Of disagreement and dissent
**
My dear, now that the
Earth has finally settled
Down and drawn closed
The curtains of night
Now that only the owl
And the leopard prowl
These dark hills, sleep, and
Remember not the troubles
Of today
Rather, close your eyes
And smile at the first
Beautiful dream that drifts
Into the fragrant parks of
Your rest, and imagine only
Another innocent dawn…
Another forbidden river to swim…
One more grasshopper to
Chase in the fields
**
Nights such as these at
Times tend to linger on
Far too long, and I sometimes
Find myself believing the clock
When he tells me that even
In his grandfather’s antiquated
Times, moments like these
Always walked by in minute
Progressions, going nowhere
**
Papyrus rose and fell
Gently rocked back and
38
Forth by the idyllic rhythm
Of the river’s song
Stately, dignified, they
Conversed in hushed tones
And whispered longingly
To the wind…
Under the understanding
Gaze of a forgiving
Afternoon sun
**
Reason in relationships is
Quite like trying to find sublime
Beauty in a warthogs face,
Then elevating it by orders
Of magnitude to the higher
Reaches of grand poetry
I believe it’s not just the need
To see good in the object of
One’s affections that eventually
Translates to one’s downfall,
But actually believing in it
**
Say no more that I’m no
Good, that all I’d ever been
Was a misplaced priority
Say no more that I’ve
Always been irresponsible,
That initiative has never
Been my forte… that I never
Understood anything until
It was spelt out and etched
In stone
39
Say no more that naivety
Has always been the essence
Of me… that stupidity was all
I ever excelled in
Say no more that you love
Me, for I tend to believe that
Love is the appreciation of
Difference ,and you just can’t
Love what you first cannot
Appreciate
**
Shall I say
Shall I say that this
Lovely girl is a dove
Graceful and gentle?
Shall I say
Shall I say that she is
A deer, elegant
And proud?
Shall I say
Shall I say that she
Makes my heart sing…?
Shall I say
Shall I say that I want her
With every fibre of who I
Am, but I lose my tongue
When she smiles and looks
My way?
**
She speaks with lovely
Intonation…
Each word hints of others
40
That may have been said…
Walks ahead of meanings
That have been left at the
Sunsets of obscurity, and
Been forgotten at junctions
Of paths that lead to deeper
Thought
**
That day dawned in a
Very grudging mood;
I’d hoped nature had had
A satisfactory night of
Madness and meting out
Violence on an obliging
World, but it now seems likely
That's not quite the way she’d
Perceived the end
Thus dawn came in half
Shrouds of silken silence
And gently falling rain
**
There are nine roads to
Infinity, and only slightly more
To total improbability;
All I’ve ever perceived in nature
Is three dimensions when sane,
And infinitely more in the scented
Parks of insanity
But what would stop her from
Rotating in say eight or even sixteen
Dimensions, or knowing that there
Are more levels to madness than
Either science or superstition
Have discovered?
41
Calculus is an animal I have
Never really understood, and
Probably never may
**
There seems to be some
Strange meaning you attach
To the word “like” that I had no
Previous idea about
And the way you say it…
Like it’s a culture of extra
Terrestrial life forms you
See through your microscopes
Of selfishness
At this rate my dear, you
Could make a virus die
Of incompetence
**
This was brave wonderful
Music;
Drums thundered, mingling
With the moonlight and softly
Rising dust… the warriors’ bare
Feet spoke to the earth of
Power, and their songs whispered
To the wild wind of great deeds
Much graceful effort went the
Way of impression, while rhythm
Strove to merge spirituality and
Emotion with vocal elegance
It was generally at this point
That nature smilingly understood,
42
And the rest of creation listened
With altogether grateful souls
**
Though the past and
Present remain a curious
Admixture of my vainly
Choreographed moods,
I finally realize that my
End may not be so far away
Every breath I take is
The brother to the dying
Strains of a breathless
Saxophone…
Private…
Alone
**
Time is a half truth
It is deep water
A young stream
A flower at dawn…
It’s a road that walks
Not to anywhere specific
But through the enchanted
Lands of discovery… always
**
O… to be a leaf…
For just one moment
Tell deeply held secrets
To itinerant winds
I wouldn’t care for the
Subtleties of aeronautics;
O, to simply be aloft
43
No matter how ungainly
My flight may be…
But to know paradise
In one singularly
Breathtaking turn
**
Under softly whispering
Pear trees the wind breathlessly
Hums romantic poetry to the
Half dark soul of night;
Hymns that float further
Away than every cool breath
The stars take… nearer yet
Than all closely held thoughts
Of…
And as always your voice
Drips honeyed endearments…
Sweetie, dear, beloved;
Each a softly gloved steel that
Slowly destroys my soul, amidst
Impertinently soothing puffs
Seeking to heal my damaged me
**
We left to chase dreams…
Shadows of dreams really,
But some walked steadily
Ahead while others followed
At exponentially older distances
And well, that was when
I pulled aside the covers
And oblivion looked me
Squarely in the face
**
44
Well, sometimes you only
Appreciate the value and
Importance of the beginning
Right at the very end
**
I am a merchant, a peddler
Of ancient myth and
Ambiguous rhyme
I am a warrior, an
Upholder of truth and
Justice… a protector
I am a monk, a teacher
Of spirituality, morals…
A window to the unseen
I am a tree, a shelter
To the weary, the seeking…
The misunderstood
I’m a gentle breeze, I
Know of music, peace…
Of nature’s varying moods
I’m a dream, the artist’s
Inspiration… a terror
That prowls the night
I am fate, a timeless
Watch that ticks eternally
And records everything
I’m a river
I’m the moon
Or maybe I’m just insane
45
**
In that dark and forbidding
Time when the stars are at
Their brightest and every
Shadow has a story, there he
Sat under the branches of a
Certain tree he had grown
Up with and gave his dream
A name
A creature of the shadows
And the quiet contemplative
Silences that guard such
Shadows, she understood
Him not…
That, compounded by the
Difficulties he had of breaking
Down walls he had laboured
A lifetime to build around
His heart…
**
O they were lofty dreams
Heedless declarations made
And much enlarged upon;
Passion surely sweeps deadly
Like an avenging wind
But can one really expect
A heart in love to be logical?
To look at tomorrow through
Anything other than the slim
Windows of faith and hope?
For them, the only truth
Is the warmth and security
Of their embrace
46
**
Some distant shore called to
Him, and a part of him that
Yearned for new beginnings,
Heavy with the heady scents
Of blooming flowers in foreign
Meadows spoke to him
It wasn’t that the music of birds
Upon trees he had grown up
With and known by name and wart
Had grown old, or the promise of
Another dawn cold
He just knew in his bones…
Knew in that basic and instinctive
Way of seekers that things could
Be better, that he could find his
Wings over some distant land…
Know beautiful places under a
Different sky
**
And it was then, holding
Hands by the banks of Muraria
That she told him she loved him
Things would easily fall in
Place with time and patience,
For already the cement that
Held their blossoming relationship
Was quite evident…
And seeing things were really
What they were, they would
Somehow survive
So similarly, in the heat of
The moment and clouded in
47
The warmth of her embrace,
He made such promises as
To love and protect and
Forever hold her dear
Soft and distant the moon
Shining blue saw it all and
Understood, two souls in love,
For such was the nature and
Proper course of moments
Like these
**
Maybe time after all isn’t
The cure for everything;
I think he just buries the beginning
Of all illness in his deep sands
And stretches the seams of
Healing to the distantly endless
Horizons of sunset’s old age…
Hinting vaguely at the peace
That awaits us all in cold
Lonely graves
**
O flower of dusk
The beauties that walk with
Morning are your friends,
And you are all a rose ever
Aspires to be
Your gowns are cobweb
Tender, your skirts delicate
Like the scents of pine and
Cider on a cool August dawn
**
Have I not indulged in dreams
48
Cloudy and surreal?
And have I not sometimes too
Dreamt mighty dreams, crisp,
Clear and penetrating?
Days have dawned and evolved
Impatiently into night, taking
With them all the neat speeches
I had prepared
Under the understanding shades
Of graceful trees I wrote you
Poetry, and the moon has also
Heard all the songs I sang
For you
But today I think I may have
Finally found the courage to
Bare my soul to you;
Maybe today, I may just…
**
For a long time I waited
Here, right at the edge of
Eternity, hoping for an
Enlightening revelation
Or even just a tiny miracle
My dear, if all truth be told
Loving you has been the
Subtle evolution of poetry
Given wings…
**
Forget it
Forget it like noon forgets
The dawn
Like midnight forgets
49
The last rays of twilight
What do you hope to achieve
In intricate dissection?
Please, don’t see through me
I’d rather you looked inside
And tried to know me as myself;
Forget it
Forget my failings as the
Lord forgets our sin
**
How many wooded paths
Must an elephant know before
She grows too old to lead?
How many endless savannahs
Must a zebra run in herd before
He is mauled by the lions?
How many different skies
Must a falcon search before
He understands immensity?
And how many crocodile infested
Rivers must the bearded wildebeest
Cross before he reaches the end
Of his dream?
**
“How much for this one?”
Plenty
“How much?”
What do you need such a
Loser for? He is worthless
And in my chains
“That matters not. I created
50
Him and I intend to set
Him free”
What a waste, but he’s mine
Now… of his own free will
“I didn’t come to beg
Release him. I will redeem him”
For him kind Sir you’ll do
More than just redeem.
His price you know, is very dear
“A ram for him”
Never!
“Two turtle doves and a pigeon”
Impossible!
“A perfect unblemished bull”
A whole herd I wouldn’t
Even consider
“Name your price then. I
Came purposely for him and I
Will not leave without him”
But he is mine now
Do you have any idea how
Many seemingly thousands of
Years I worked to keep him here?
“Sorry that your time seems
To have passed so uselessly;
He was and still is mine by
Divine right. I have a higher
Calling for him, not spending
Eternity in chains”
Fine. We can come to a
Compromise. It is good
Business to demand value
For value… another life is
All I ask
And after aeons of time, the
Lord saw His son hung on a tree
51
Like a common thief as
Payment, cursed of God and
Man as an appropriate sacrifice,
And He justified it as value
For value
**
Here in the southern plains
Dawn comes quickly
Much earlier than to the
Eastern mountain or the
Hills in the west
He dances quietly and
Beautifully into morning,
Chasing flowered scents
Under endless blue skies
Sprinkled with fluffy clouds
And carefree birdsong
**
The light was so low
And the music so soft
That the room seemed to
Be illuminated purely
By imagination and the
Cool blue moon
That room was the
Essence of two hearts
In sync… the core of a
Thousand love songs
**
Lately I’ve been feeling
Like I should leave all my
Cares to yesterday and you
Know, maybe just take a
52
Little stroll into quiet woods
And never come back
I sometimes hope I’d walk
So long and so far that I’d
Finally get to the end of
The world, then sit on the
Very edge of reality facing
The big blue sea and ask the
Wind to play me just one
More song
But for now I guess I’ll
Just sit under the shade of
Some understanding tree
And cry;
For now at least, I’ll just
Cry and try to forget…
Fall asleep under a yellow moon
**
Evening draws closed the
Curtains of day, and as a
Final gesture of goodbye
To the shadowed fields, the
Sun smiles one more time
And goes home
Dark feathered and white
Collared like a bishop
A tired crow tucks his head
Under one magnificent wing
And dreams of yet another
Promise filled day
**
Night fell with a long
And imposing silence
53
Soon the smoke from
Various kitchens would
Rise through the hills and
The voices around these warm
Fires float lazy in the breeze
Birds and crickets and other
Creatures of the night
Began their evening songs
Led by every healthy frog
**
The wind howls and wails
Like an animal lost, swaying
Trees in ceaseless anger…
Passion… abandon
I think in their own
Compassionate way they
Understand his pain…
Know his loneliness quite
Like I do;
They cuddle him, rock him
Hold him close
But inconsolable, he drives
The rain like a thousand
Buffaloes through the night…;
Now he weeps and sings to
Me of life’s fleeting innocence
**
I come here alone sometimes,
Early in the morning when the
Dew is still young on the grass
And the flowers just starting to
Bask in the sun
54
And for a moment there is
Only the wind’s voice through
The leaves and the sounds of
This placid stream as she
Quietly runs along
For a heartbeat, I pause at
The doors of peace
**
Even the sun is weary
Of this never ending pretence;
I promise you one day he’ll
Just pack up and go to who
Knows where? Fancier lands
Maybe?
Just some place else where he
Can shine upon less
Antagonistic and selfish souls
**
I’ve walked from the cape
To the cold lands up north
I’ve measured the distance
From my soul to the moon,
And further out to eternity
I’ve counted every river’s
Stones starting with Muraria’s;
I’ve sat by their banks and
Heard each their individual tales
I’ve sang to the forest and
Argued with yesterday;
I know the many secrets of
The wind and the freedom
Of a content cloud…
And maybe, if I’m not wrong,
55
On quite a few occasions I’ve
Heard the night whisper my
Name
**
Let there be music
Let there be songs for my
Broken heart to sing, and
Other hopes for these tired
Bones to follow through
The night
Just one more song…
One last dance to take me
Back to a gentler time and
Place, where in a more loving
And understanding age we
Held hands and finally said
Goodbye
**
Of all the crazy things I’ve
Ever had the misfortune to
Hear, this one definitely is
The grandfather of them all
You know, if you gave three
Baboons a conference room and
A Jerry can of illicit brew, they’d
Never in all of evolution come
Up with such a brainless idea
As this
**
The hills out there are blue,
A calm dusky blue as all
Things distant are, and beyond
Them rise the misty serene peaks
56
Of Mount Kenya
This is home.
A home of closely held memories
And gradually ageing distances
To sunny beyonds
I’d always thought that
A man could walk and walk
In a straight line and still
Get nowhere specific, but
I’m not so sure the hawk
Agrees totally with me
**
Insanity is an art form
Rarely understood by the
Normal, or deemed sensible
By the rational;
It’s a dream with no
Translation, neither beginning
Nor end, best realized in the
Shadowy realms of higher
Imagination… it’s a clear
Blue sky
Madness is a state of mind
Where the impossible is
Probable, even true;
Where fantasy is reality
Singing moony songs
Where every door opens to
Endless possibilities limited
Only by one’s sense of
Adventure…
Where truth is really only what
You choose to know of yourself
57
Essentially, it’s an integral
Part of us
**
Ladies and gentlemen
I have since come to the
Imagined conclusion that
My poor client, Mr chicken,
Did not climb the bicycle,
Nor did he cross the road
Esteemed members of the
Jury, can anyone intelligently
Inform this court why we
Are still here?
I rest my case your honour
**
The night is my Olympics
And the stars my adoring fans;
In the wee hours of morning
I pass like a shadow behind
Peoples homes and hear them
Demystify ordinary dreams
Quietly like a shadow I
Run stark naked…
Mad like the wind possessed;
I know I’m the best in this
Weird and most ancient of
Arts, and I think to myself,
They should declare it a
Championship sport
**
These last few days have
Been a hairy nightmare and
58
A badger chasing things in
The night
Yesterday came and tore
Apart my carefully cultured
Mind, scattering neatly catalogued
Thoughts every which way
My whole past walked by
Uninvited holding today’s
Hand, cloaked in fog, while
Somewhere through the grey
And gloom I heard you call
My name…
Oh my, was that yesterday
Or the day before?
Goodness me, am I going mad…?
Or… yes, maybe that’s how
It really happened
**
He stood there, still,
Silent, immobile
He towered magnificently
Above the grass and
Humming stream
He gently swayed in the
Soothing breeze on a warm
Sunny day;
A day like many others that
Had passed by… forgotten
Leaves murmured, whispered…
Sang;
Like all true friends we spoke
With our hearts and hoped this
Day would never end… not
59
Just yet anyway
**
Time was eternal…
The minutes were many
And slow like the waters
Of Ithuthi;
Each day walked by like a
Donkey cart uphill
Cold mists chilled the
Hills while the sun walked
Along the far ridges of
The earth, and we were one…
O how we never grew old
**
My dear, let's fight over our
Differences, however vague they
May seem to the unschooled eye,
You know they are many like
Our stupidities
And when our grudges prove
Too complex for a domestic
Expedition, let us range further
Afield and fight for those of
Our neighbours also
They have their rights too,
But so do we!
Only let's inject a little spice
And a little discord plus a
Pinch of disagreement into their
Misunderstandings, so that
When we are through and
There is nothing more to fight
For abroad, no more seeds of
60
Discord to sow, we’ll return
Home and leave the poor souls
To burn their house
Whether they agree or fight
Some more who cares anyway?
You have proved to me that one
Needs to be a war monger to be
A peacemaker
**
Hush… hush now and
Be very still;
Hush and hold your peace
For the night slowly ages
Hush and let it be…
Let the quiet mists of dawn
Comfort it and carry its
Final breath to… where?
**
They are complicated shadows
Cast by seasoned darkness…
Quiet and safe they dismiss
The sunlight and birdsong
They are old and ancient,
Bones held so long in the
Embrace of mother earth
That time and history have
Forgotten how long they’ve
Lain silent,
What ideals they lived for…
For what causes they died
But though still and quiet,
In their silence they remain
Our lesson;
61
Like the hold of a stranger’s
Hand they touch our lives
If only they could speak,
What would they say?
Would they be wise as we
Perceive wisdom to be?
**
They were great and
Imposing like rumours of
Grand faroff Kilimanjaro
Clothed in cloud, encased
In mystery;
Glorious as Mount Kenya
Crowned king of them all
And like the trees that singly
March through misty dawns
Led by a vague thought,
Themselves leading others
That follow in endless recycle
From obscurity to forever
Led and followed into the
Wild unknown by music,
The breeze… silence;
They are all we ever aspire
To be, yet never may
**
My dear, if I should give
You a name for the world
To know you by, what would
It be?
Would it be a name fragrant
And perfumed, or perhaps like a
Quiet waterfall in these woods
62
Tranquil and appealing?
If I put you on the pedestal
Of my dreams and showed
You my world, would you
Come with me, or like shafts
Of sunlight through early
Morning mists would you
Puncture my sails and shred
My humble tapestries?
**
A vase that stands alone
In the light is cute
Add a flower and you
Get beauty
A dawn is beautiful
Add the sun and a
Bird or two…
Surely life is a gift
From God
**
Let me hold you close
To me for this world is
A bit wild
Let me hold you close
To me that I may know
You are for real…
That you are mine and not
Just some passing dream
**
Stop my friend and let
Us take a moment of
Silence to remember all
63
Our unsung heroes
Those great men and
Women who did things
Others were too afraid
To do, and spoke up even
When nobody else dared
Raise their voice
**
In this land of flowers
We are free
In this land of dreams we
Need know no pain;
Where roses bloom and
Sunflowers carpet the land,
We are free to love and sing
The songs of our hearts
Here where your voice is
Music and your embrace
My anchor, love doesn’t
Have to die halfway;
I have known you for a
Thousand years, and I will
Love you ten thousand more
**
They lunged through the
Grand savannah and raced
The gentle night east
Through the hedges of apathy
And the meadows of fear,
Right into the frontiers of
Discovery they went
They each crossed their
64
Own individual deserts and
Mighty rivers;
Through cool shades of the
Most magnificent woodlands
Imagination could conjure
They bravely journeyed
They cut through the great
Distances that separated their
Souls…
In through space, out through
The mysterious caves of time...
They rode the winds and
Embraced the rising sun
**
She asked where they
Were going this time;
He shrugged and pointed
To the wind…
She nodded and silently
Believed
They looked through the
Sunset and into the dark
Forbidding night yonder
And knew that tomorrow
With the rising sun they
Would move on yet again
Like always,
To nowhere…
Anywhere…
Everywhere
**
All my thoughts about
You come wrapped in silk
65
True love then must be
What we have
A friendship so simple,
Unhurried… so uniquely
Our own
Our love is like a butterfly…
If only I could hold you in
My arms forever?
In one endless dream you
Are mine…
The world is suddenly a
Much nicer place, and there
Is nothing more I would
Add to it
**
Let us not quarrel any
More for all that’s said
And done;
Tomorrow maybe my dear,
But not today, for I often
Get weary of strife and blame
And all that
If you could find it in
Your heart to forgive me,
If you could only for today
Just hold my hand and sit
By me as people in love
Often do and quietly usher
In the night, then maybe
Tomorrow you’ll love me
Still?
**
We lived in the dark
Wasted away in traffic jams
66
And called it development;
We rode crime waves, police
Brutality and our governments
Called it maintaining security
We disappeared in potholes
Drowned in poor drainage and
Burst sewerage and shamelessly
Called it nation building
We dined with devils and
Called it building coalitions;
We went on campaigns of
Ethnic cleansing and called
It empowering the unrepresented
Confronted with national
Disasters, our esteemed politicians
Stood our nation on the edge
Of a cliff and proclaimed…
“Countrymen, we are proud to
Announce that in the spirit of
Maendeleo, we are taking a
Historic step forward”
And I wonder, to where?
**
Even great dreams grow in
The hearts of humble men, but
Can a calf run with the bulls?
I’m an animal lost in the
Gentle intricacies of the wild,
Not yet very sure whether life
Is a lesson, or lessons life
From the day as a fawn
67
I found my staggered footing
To the day that I shall muster
Great herds to lead in glory
Through these lands, and
Die embraced in legend
I shall always remain a student
Of nature, and though she isn’t
Often disagreeable, there are those
Times she often demands a great
Price for inexperience
**
My abominable abode is
A squatter in a forgotten
Neighbourhood
My days push and shove
And rowdily come to
Acrimonious ends
The garbage outside my
Shack has an ugly face
And a rather mean personality...
A slothful river of effluence
Grandly flows by my front
Door
**
Sometimes I have heard some
Intimate that I am crazy, that
I speak to the ghosts of ancients
And court unfathomable dreams…
That I congregate them on junctions
Of roads that have travelled so long
They have nowhere else left to go
Some roads lead to lenient and
68
Forbearing climes but I wonder
Who is to blame?
This was once a paradise, but
What has become of it?
It is a destroyed anthill…
I may yet dream… or maybe this
Is just the beginning of yet
Another end?
**
Sometimes it is most prudent
To keep one’s mouth shut,
For the measure of wisdom
Doesn’t lie in the ability to speak
Articulately and at prodigious
Length, but rather in one’s aptitude
To conclude matters of great importance
In a few well considered words
**
While the sky is still
Gay and bright,
While the winds are
Gentle and birds agree
In song,
While clouds still float
In the sky and rivers
Serene flow onwards
To eternity,
Know ye thus, that I
Love you so
**
It was then, in the dark
Silent hour before the
Dawn, when silence and
Mystery merge into the
69
Half light of distant dawn
That he finally fell
Undefined pain coursed
Through his body and
Endless agony sang in
His veins…
A weak parry with his
Magnificent horns, and
The earth, and all the free
And endless expanse he
Had known since his youth
As his home faded into
The night
He lay fighting phantoms
And the weapons of skilled
Methodical hunters;
The first rays of the sun
Pierced the eastern horizon
And mourned his passing…
Each man shed a private
Tear, then carried him home
**
If I were a butterfly or
A hawk gliding in the sky…
If I were a leaf or a cloud
Racing the wind…
If I were a flower or a
Thought through your mind
A dream to cherish or
A song to calm your fears;
If say I were all these and
Maybe a little more, would
Our love then be further
Than the playful breezes
70
Of morning?
Would this be real, the
Laughter in your eyes?
**
Who knows? Maybe one
Day more I may speak
And bare my soul;
One more day that I may
See the sun rise over an
Easterly cloud
My gains and losses have
Been but a passing in the wind;
Still, my final thoughts are
Not in vain, and maybe yet
Some may remember me…
Who knows, but the world
May just as well end tonight
**
Seeing that evening rests so
Peacefully as she watches the
World pass by, would this be
Called a loving gesture as far
As gestures go, to hold your
Head on my lap and smooth
Your hair into a continuous,
If not memorable dream?
Would you consider tracing
My finger round your ear and
Along your face a caring caress,
Knowing that I love you?
Would whispering a song, and
Speaking ever so softly as a far
Off stream be the beginning and
The end of a sweet lullaby?
71
Would we gather the warmth
From the fire and wrap it around
Our hearts, soothed by music that
Seems to come from within?
Would we talk and talk and
Understand each our different dreams,
Or would we each be asking
Ourselves silent questions…
Like what am I doing here?
When is this ever going to end?
**
Morning pass thou not
In haste, but sit here by
My side and lets us lift
Our voices (and my soul)
In thanksgiving to God
For the gift of yet another
Beautiful day
Tune your golden flutes
Ye breezes that walk with
The dawn and play me a
Gentle tune;
Why not invite too, every
Lively bird to join us in song?
For my love is far away and
I miss her so…
My love is my love and
I love her so
**
That shall be tomorrow,
A new day to gather new
Worries and new dreams
72
That I may spread out for
My heart to label and catalogue
Tonight though I must
Cry a little and lie unconsoled;
Tonight I must scatter my
Pain like ash to the four winds
And stay up with the moon
And her companion stars,
Then, when the crickets have
Sung me their song, I shall
Lay me gently to sleep, and
Thus hopefully, very gently
Fall asleep
**
Each new day has a
Thousand flowers to
Bring, and each new
Morning some merry
Song to sing
But where rest the fine
Flowers of yesterday, and
Their memories of kisses
By the honeybees?
Where go all the songs
That grow old with each
Sunset?
What of the fragrances
That colour each warm
December day?
**
Where is this fall you
Speak of that roars
Hidden behind a certain
73
Clump of trees in some
Secret valley?
It no doubt has a senior
Name for itself and maybe
A significance of sorts to
You and I?
If only we could come
Here each morning to
Pick a flower or two, and
Knit us an Olympian
Garland with petals red
And purple and blue?
Then I’d tell you all,
Of my love for you, the
Poems, the stories, the
Songs…and… and…
Oh my…, and my soul
**
Thoughts chased other
Thoughts in his troubled
Mind from the waking of
Dawn to the midnight
Of slumber
Onwards they shuffled
To and fro, coming and
Going in endless recycle,
Restless and unpredictable
Like elderly dreams on
Rickety wagons
**
I stood on the edges of
Pools formed besides the
74
Road and lovingly brushed
The corners of evening into
One sweet lullaby
I sat on the banks of
Muraria and led the frogs
In chorus, then said
Goodbye as she flowed
Into the great waters
Of Ithuthi
I lay on the grass at
Home and made faces
At the moon;
I took a thoughtful breath
And quickly realized there
Was still a lot of this and
A lot of that left to see
And do and dream about
Like the first steps of
Childhood,
The first plums of December,
The first showers of the
Long rains…
The crazy fogs of June;
Indeed, the very first grey hairs,
The first breathless sighs before
That final touching, albeit
Meaningless goodbye
**
Let us walk through the
Streets of life and in one
Mighty leap sum up all the
Pains of joy
Tell me if I perceive
75
Correctly and not in too
Hasty a thought, does
She not weave the threads
Of the tattered tapestry of
Dreams into a poem,
Forlorn and lonely?
Doesn’t she mix it’s colours
And itinerant surprises into
What would be known in
Higher circles, a painting
Weighty in depth and meaning?
With that I know I surely
Grow old…
Old enough to call each star
By it’s surname and appreciate
The sneezes of old men;
Old enough to think I could
Hang a cloudy sky by it’s
Edges out to dry
**
The night drives her
Dark cows over the
Hills as the moon rises
Serene, eager to inspect
What mischief these hills
Have been up to in her
Absence
**
Let us put it this way
My dear, though you
Walk in one valley as
I lie down in another
You think one thought
76
And I think it too;
You feel one kind of pain
And it is mine too
You dream a dream
And we dream it together,
While the sun shines and
Smiles down upon us
**
I look in your eyes
And see a fire burning
Warm and bright
If the sky had no end
And the rivers no song,
If these woods weren’t as
Quiet or our hearts strong,
Would we dare the shadows
Of night?
Since the day I learnt
To see colours in a smile,
I always prayed for a
Soul like you
And all I can think of
As I watch the sunset is
Only you…
The security of your
Smile, a heart strong and
Content…
A love as effortless as the
Companionship we share
**
Let’s sit back awhile
And ponder this and that;
77
About night and day, and
Things neither here nor there;
About a flower in bloom
That after season’s end wilts
And tearfully dies, it’s last
Petals of excellence fallen
With the departed rains
Think thus of the naked
Stem that tells a sad story
Of beauties past to
Colourful birds, and all that’s
Left for the passing hunter
Is an ageing thought…
A cold unclothed memory
**
Lets head for the highlands,
Lets flee this mad city and
Go in search of peace, quiet,
Comfort and sanity
Let us go and find ourselves
So that when we return, we
Shall have something of
Value to lose yet again
**
What can I say?
What indeed is left
To say?
That she was loved
By the butterflies and
Coveted by each passing
Bee?
When she looks at me
And smiles, my heart
78
Goes on extended leave
**
They tell me that the
Ocean is all wet, all of it!
Water to your right,
Water to your left, and
Far into the endless beyond
Suppose what they say
Is true, that the biggest
Lake is smaller than the
Smallest imagination of
The sea, how come then
Their boats never get lost?
Could you sail and sail
Until you got to China, or
Would you just drift on and on
Till you went under the
Bridge of rainbows, and
Into the glorious ports of
Heaven?
**
First in these ancient
Forests there was music;
Long before men learnt
To beat drums and send
Feelings through wooden
Flutes, the trees had always
Sang in rhythm and in
Concert, each with a different
Voice
They sang songs that
Filled the troubled woods
With peace, until men walked
79
Among them and changed it all;
They hunted the beautiful
Creatures and felled those
Ancient trees to fuel industry,
And thus the woods fell silent
And mourned… quiet;
Nothing but manly blows
Of destruction
But with time the forests
Have learnt to sing again;
The birds and the monkeys…
The rivers and the wind;
They’ve learnt to sing songs
Of passion and pain…
Joy and life
They’ve learnt to sing the
Songs of freedom too, sometimes
In tune with those of oppressed
Men who found healing and
Shelter amongst them
**
Death was not so fearful
After all
It was as strangely ordinary
As a cat swimming or swinging
On a rainbow
It sometimes just happened
Without the final music;
You felt freedom like walking
Into a dream…
Like going some place
Wonderful and never wanting
To come back
80
You gave it your name
And it never gave it back;
It took your all, and you
Just slowly left reality…
Walked through the mist
Into the vast mysterious
Beyond, and never returned
But through it all, at
Least you were the one that
Went smiling, and left
Everyone else crying
**
If perhaps someone asked
Me to sit down and quietly
Think of something beautiful,
I’d think of the sunset
If they asked me to think
Of something joyful and
Lively, I’d perhaps call to
Mind a bird of paradise, or
Maybe a butterfly
If they asked for thoughts
Tranquil and mysterious, I’d
Remember a waterfall, the
Night sky and distant stars…
Of the slowly ageing night
But if they were bold enough
To ask for timeless and
Precious thoughts, it’s the
Thought of you that would
Grow in my mind and take
Root in my heart
To see you smile and hold
81
You when you cry…
They’d know that I’d never
Love anyone else like I
Love you
**
It was a calm day
Calm like a closely
Held breath
A calm that was all
Of its own…
A personality so used
To being nothing less
Than all it was in such
Simple and unhurried
Terms, that it rode
Change like a cork in
Tranquil seas
**
He watched the night
Conduct it’s stealthy
Restless business like
A play with too many
Shadowy characters and
Erratic music
He watched and listened,
On and on until the night
Herself forgot that he was
There;
He joined in the silence,
Heavy and expectant as
Each hour turned a different
Shade of dark until eventually,
It joined a deeper more
Impersonal silence…
82
The silence of the watching
Stars and slumbering earth;
The silence of the heavens
And great dark inbetween
**
An owl rose from a
Branch like a dream
Given wings
The night asserted itself
In little chirps and calls,
Rustles and whispers
Unseen, while through
The curtains of darkness,
A bark rose there and a
Howl started elsewhere
Rude protestations from
Whatever nocturnal canines
That patrolled those particular
Sections of wilderness
**
He dreamt in a language
Different from us…
A language that was distant
And personal all at once
She closed her eyes and
Embraced the first tentative
Notes of sleep
He chased ancient hymns
Through the hushed woods
Of fantasy
She followed a dream through
The enchanted gates of slumber;
83
Together they took a journey
Into the unknown…
They shared a mysterious
Comradeship all their own
**
Tomorrow we shall run
Again and dream again
And maybe love again…
Tomorrow when a new
Sun rises and the skies
Are fair, we’ll hold hands
And walk again in friendship;
We’ll write old songs anew,
Maybe hold our heads a
Little higher
But today we pack our
Memories and say goodbye,
Goodbye to the past as we
Sweep our hearts bare in
Search of little remembrances,
Forgotten hugs and unexpressed
Feelings… desperately trying
To read subtle meanings in
Insignificant gestures
**
We lay in one singular
Quiet as grandma’s voice
Pinned our names to every
Tree, and sent each individually
Wrapped in an impatient
Breath of wind
We were needed in our best
Behaved selves to answer
Certain questions, something
84
We definitely wanted no
Part of, thus we each shrank
Deeper into our own personal
Terror
We were needed in shining
Form long after we had ceased
To be luminous, so we
Gathered around us dark clouds
And blankets of deep silence;
On and on she called, hammering
Our names into an uncompromising
And uncooperative night
**
It is a vast sad land
Now, filled with lonely
And mysterious shadows
In quiet fields and valleys
Where glory is long
Forgotten, accompanied by
Rivers long tired of song
Only the lone wind
Walks among the tall
Grass, desolate… sad;
But with the passing of
Time nature has silently
Claimed back her own
And healed the scars, so
All that remains is a
Still, silent peace
A memorable peace
Broken only by the
Itinerant calls of eagles;
Time resolutely marches
On, and the world goes
85
Round and round and round…
In the warm sunshine,
Children laugh no more
**
I dream and live in
Lands of sunshine and
Light mists, blue skies and
Proud evergreens
For every bird that
Sings I hear your voice…
Every breath of wind carries
Your perfume
With every leaf I brush
I feel your touch…
Through every ray of
Sunlight I see you smile
At me
**
We saw him go
Into the forest and
Thought that he’d gone
In search of a lost cow,
Maybe a forgotten burden
We saw him go
And some said he’d
Never come back…
That for good he’d gone,
Taken his last walk
We saw him go
And realized too late
That he’d never come back
When he didn’t return
86
We saw him go,
And it was all our fault
That he went for good
**
Let us remember yesterday
When we held hands and
Our hearts beat as one
Let us remember yesterday
When the fair wind sang
And nature echoed our joy
Let us remember yesterday
When in silence we sat
And understood each other
Let us remember yesterday
For today we part…
Begin a new pain
**
There is a song I’m
Told that they sang
In whispers
Drums I hear
That they beat in the
Hushed silence of dusk
Dances I have seen
Them dance quietly,
Still… immobile
**
The sunlight dances
Across this endless forgiving
Sky, a sky if you may, like
87
One in another place, another
Time, another dream
One dream, two dreams…
Many dreams;
Fourty dreams woven together
Like a basket’s threads,
One time, two times, a
Thousand times;
A song that was sung by
The stream, by the waterfall,
And by the round river stones
Picked by the wind
Passed on through the trees
And echoed in every valley;
It was a song for us,
A song we had sung many times…
A song we still sing
**
If I could gather all my
Thoughts and feelings
Like the dry leaves of
Season’s end, place them
On a lonely hill and set them
Ablaze with the embers of
Imagination at sunset, what
Shades and shadows
Would the dying sun and
Evening winds create?
If perchance the leaves
Were dry enough and my
Fire hot enough, I’d wish
For a cloudless sky, a thousand
Stars and yet ten thousand
More…
88
A shy crescent moon and
A still night;
Then maybe from three,
Perhaps even four valleys
Away, my little hill would
Be a beacon of hope to a
Forlorn and aching soul
**
If only yesterday were
Not just a dream and the
Days never grew old…
If the earth were to stay
Forever young and we with it
If we knew no pain
Or shed no tears, fought
No wars or suffered from
Grief…
If only we remained as
Innocent as children, tell
Me then my friend, would
The world be a better place,
More beautiful?
Would every mirage be
A rainbow,
Every wish a song…
Every prayer an answer?
**
To be or not to be
That’s the question
As a bird is
Or a flower;
A butterfly
Or a sunset
89
All at once, or
At times, nothing…
A prayer,
Yesterday’s dream
Today’s reality
Tomorrow’s memory
**
Earth trembling, flanks
Rippling with power he
Breaks free…
Exultant he bursts forth
In a break for freedom;
Across the savannah he
Thunders, proud and free
Effortlessly he makes for
Distant valleys in search
Of solitude, and my soul
Goes with him;
In his wild and joyous flight
I gallop with him to wild
And magical lands I may
Never have known alone
**
If I be sad, show me a
River and let me hear its
Joyful song;
If I be irreverent, carry me
To the mountains, that I may
Worship you in truth
Should I be discouraged
Lord, may you remind me of
Your promise of life in the
Birds’ happy abandon, and if
90
I ever lack faith, please sit me
Under a clear sky and let me
Survey creation in awe
At times Lord, when this
Unjust world hurts me,
Walk with me in the quiet
Peaceful forests
… and when I’m so blinded
By anger and hate, please
Lie me gently in a garden,
That I may remember this
World is still a beautiful place
**
For generations you’ve
Outlived the petty quarrels
Of man;
Down through the ages
You’ve thundered from the
Forest to the savannah like
Dark clouds of rain in
April, and drifted back again
How many rivers have you
Crossed old bull, in flood and
In drought?
In how many mud pools
Have you rolled?
Under how many moons
Have you grazed, wild and
Free?
Dark and mighty buffalo
Run ye across the endless
Plains, mighty horns held
High, powerful body glistening
In the golden sun;
91
Run a thousand years, and for
Ten eternities keep running
Still, unconquered and untamed
**
Sing me a song, a
Song about life and
Happy times
So I sang him a song,
Light and evergreen
Come play me a tune,
A tune free like a bird
On the wing, like a falcon
In the wind
So I played him a tune,
Vibrant and delicate that
Echoed the joy of being
Come show me a dance,
A dance gentle and graceful
Like rushes in a breeze…
Like a stream through the reeds
So I danced the dance
Of herons, its steps the
Very essence of life,
The silks of happiness
Thus I sang
And played
And danced;
I lived like one with
An open heart,
Lived like one in a
Pleasant dream…
92
And loved
**
On young feet,
On swift limbs,
Almost an illusion of
Wings on their honey
Tan backs…
Feet so fleet and tender
They could run on waves
And never get wet,
Run across fields of delicate
Grass and never bend a blade
And of life, and unto
Life they harken to the
Mournful flute…
Sweet and fragrant like
Nectar and rose they bloom
Flowers in spring that
As swiftly as they lived
Wither, so all that
Remains are distant
Hints of a memory
**
Run gentle singer,
Your voice soothing
Balm to battered spirits;
You brush the leaves with
A murmur and rustle them
Like a breeze…
In their different voices
They join you in song
The heavens are glorious
And the earth fair;
93
Across the vast sky stars
Gaze spellbound at creation...
On the earth the great oceans
Sigh, and rivers bubble hymns
Eternal
**
When I am gone and
My light shines no more,
When I, like all follow
The ancient dust route,
I’ll go knowing that my
Work is done
I ceased to care what
My tombstone shall read,
For dust has closed worthier
Men’s eyes for headstones
To matter
I’ve one request though,
Please remember to give
My mother a rose from me…
A rose fresh and fragrant
That though late in coming
Is my sincerest gratitude
For everything, and more still
**
If you hear me say the
Cold scratches my bones,
Its isn’t due to the thinning
Blankets or the lack of this
Or that mineral;
The cold rolls into my heart
Like the biting July fogs,
Cold no number of fires or
Blankets will ever warm
94
If you hear me say the
Hornbills sing songs long
Forgotten, that the old trees
Perform ancient dances,
Don’t think me mad… I
May just be more sensitive
To the varying moods
Of nature
If you hear me say that
Twilight comes too early,
Please don’t condemn me,
I’d rather you understood
That maybe the time has just
Come when I’ll pick my walking
Stick and journey into the dark
And silent world of dreams
**
Wait until the hills are
Quiet and the valleys still;
Do not come yet, wait until
The birds have gone to sleep
Only then may you cross
The fields where bright
Shines the moon on the
Flowing stream
If you chance upon a
Flower by the path, and it
Is beautiful, please my dear,
Pick it for me
Evening winds play a
Flute, a golden flute kept
Warm in the breasts of
95
Musical birds
The grass is soft and
The breeze warm, stay
With me my dear till the
Moon is half aged
Lets watch the stars and
Shifty clouds tonight, for
Tomorrow is a dream, and
Not all dreams come true
**
We’ve been friends since
We were knee high;
We climbed every tree
And fell off most of them
How many wild childhoods
Ago did we take cattle to the
River, and on many a cold
August morning to pasture?
We hunted in woods now
Gone, and swam in rivers
Whose names we’ve long
Forgotten
Forgive me if I seem to have
Forgotten you, and please don’t
Mourn… there’ll be time enough
For that when our young share
The same
**
It wasn’t my fault that
The stars didn’t shine
And the moon was hidden
96
By a sulky cloud
The night hung like a
Wet blanket and even the
Frogs in Muraria had warned
Of the coming rain
I would have come but
The path connecting our
Hills was slippery, and it
Was very dark
I’d have kept my promise
But I knew you didn’t like
The mud, and you didn’t
Want it to rain on your hair
**
Today I met the wind
Hurrying to wherever
Winds go before the thunder
Multitudes of grass in the
Fields obligingly bent their
Elegant necks and joyfully
Let him pass
And I thought to myself…
If only I were as free
**
... and all that’s left in this
Questing soul is just the quiet
Breath of the wind
With all the ageing eddies of
Time, through never ending
Journeys of the sun across blue
97
Skies and slowly fading phases
Of the moon, dances such as these
Would still be known through
Yet unborn nights, and great
Poetry composed for many
Generations yet to come
Hunters would be born and
Forgotten, leaders made and
Honoured, and great men
Immortalized in legend;
Buffalo would still graze in
These beautiful hills and leopards
Prowl their mists
**
This here is the honourable
Minister of fairness
Just the other day we repaired
A broken post in his farm so
That our thinning cows would
No longer eat of his malnourished
Sukuma wiki
And that one over there with
A beer belly hanging to his
Knees is the highly acclaimed
Minister of financial matters,
Who recently begged us vijana
To help push his scrap of a car
Stuck in the shamba that’s our road
With him is the minister for
Compensation and empowerment
Who in his campaigns promised us
A piece of land to build a school
To educate the uneducated
98
Now, over four years later the
Roads to our forgotten villages
Are still muddy tracks, and mheshimiwa
Is too busy attending dinners and
Fighting for his salary increments
To see us mere raia
But come election time
The dogs in his palatial residence
Shall be chained and his huge Prado
Grow wings, just in time to
Revisit our begging souls…
And votes
**
We now no longer go to the
Kiharo to cheer on young men
To glory, for in the marketplace
Bull elephants war daily
For the favour of representation
And emancipation we, the grass
Under their mighty feet die a
Slow and hungry death, with
Barely enough time left
Between hope and recovery
They trumpet words full of
Promise, but is not a breath of
Wind powerful too?
O my love, we play again an
Endless tune, with only the
Comfort of our voters cards
And another election where
We shall believe the same lies
Yet again
**
99
Daughter of my clan you
Are beautiful…
Beautiful like a flower
Touched by the sun at dawn
Ndugu, she is slim and tall
Like a mubao tree that grows
By the banks of Muraria…
Oooo I die
When she walks, her skirts
Dance… even the road
And every flower that grows
Turns to applaud
**
They gather in darkening
Commonwealth above the hills
That guard the misty Aberdares
And obscure the mountain
Sweetly refreshing scents of
Wet earth rise to mingle with
The smoke from my lonely
Fireplace, impatient to shake
Hands with the lightning…
Rolling on the backs of impatient
Winds and mighty thunders
Tomorrow maybe the rivers
Shall finally quench the thirst
Of my decimated herds and
Flood the fields with pastures green?
Yes… maybe this is the sound
Of rebirth… and of life too
**
They expound on my misfortunes
100
And call upon Socratic logic to
Measure my failures, raising them
High on some windblown
Edifice in the market like some
Statue… forgotten
Perched on the pedestal of
Their recently acquired
Disappointment my dreams
Take a deep breath, and bravely
Consider a long drop through
Conformity
But my, is this not a lovely
Day to end one’s hopes?
**
I have considered relativity
And gravity, with most of
My dreams having mythical
Beginnings and quickly ageing
To Gothic ends
I spin alone in carefully
Contained time capsules,
As black holes of experience
Bend my ego in ever decreasing
Event horizons
Only in confused states am
I truly competent
**
Few men in all recorded
History were more religious,
Or lusted after a skirt with
More vigour as they did
101
Not in known humanity
Past and present was there
To be found such shameless
Absurdity as this
**
Duets of musically exploding
Colour host both holy edifices
And other less holy institutions
Where gay breezes converse
With wind chimes, lending
Ambience to various intimate
Acquaintances
Most cabins by the river
Have known their soul…
Existing in perplexed coalition
With mighty industry
**
Tonight he is inconsolable
Howling like a thousand hyenas
After blood…
Outside in this wild night
Only the lonely willow and
Mighty acacia seem to
Understand his pain
Storm clouds hurry to comfort
Him, and cover the hills in a
Cloak of cold wet steel
At this very advanced stage in
Hostilities, all the night can do
Is suggest and hint at everything
The warn scents of day hurry
102
To safer climes, and leave the
Rest of nature to sort out its
Differences
**
When I consider my friends
I remember them that have
Shown me understanding
And I am grateful
When I think of them that
Have been a refuge
I am filled with hope
When I tally those that have
Shared in my achievements
I am blessed to have been an
Inspiration to them
But when I dream of true
Friends, those who would
Sound the drums of war and
Chase with me the wind that
Stole my soul, sadly they are
But a tiny handful, but thank
God you are one of them
**
Fine spray, a gentle breeze
The soothing sounds of waves
Washing on pristine beach…
My soul changes with the
Colours of the setting sun
A seashell on the sand
Reminds me that beauty
Lingers on, even after death
103
And does not the air carry
Elements of romance?
I think the moon agrees even
As she smiles at me across
A half lit sky
**
Night leaps over the mountain
Racing down the valleys and
Over the western hills in pursuit
Of the dying sun
Inch by victorious inch she claims
The fading sky as the sun puts
Up a brilliant resistance…
Minute after electrifying minute
He explodes in valiant colour
Scorching red and dazzling pink…
Under stubborn green he sinks lower
In memorable and heartbreaking
Surrender, and I mourn his passing
Finally victorious, night throws her
Protective dark blanket over the
Earth, lest the day return unawares;
The moon rises regal, followed in
Obedient attendance by a few
Faithful stars, and every frog
Raises its voice in honour
Thus for a while, she is the
Undisputed queen of the sky, but
Only for a little while
**
Come my love and follow
Me to the mountains…
104
To dances in the clouds and
Walks though misty pine
Take my hand and come
With me to the forest;
Under the cool twilight of
Mighty trees we’ll sit and
Hear the wind lead flowers
In song
Let’s tarry awhile by this
Nameless stream, and as she
Murmurs her peaceful way
Among rocks to thunderous
Spray below, the gentle rays
Of the sun shall warm our
Hearts too
Fear not the night for it's terrors
Walk no more;
We’ll sit on the soft grass
And watch the setting sun…
The delicate fragrances of nature
Shall whisper to us of home
We shall complete our search
In the silver light of the moon;
We have longed in our hearts
For this place, and to this place
We have journeyed in our dreams
A thousand times
Come my love, and let us
Rediscover sanity
**
… and as hand in hand
We walk in search of
105
Understanding, let us not
Forget that we’ve walked
Down this road before, and
Others have gone this way
Before us
Though the path may seem a
Little different from others
We may have known, it is
Not new my dear;
The problems are always
The same
All we need is to hold not
Just our hands together, but
To bind our hearts too,
And trust…
Let life throw at us what it can
**
Tell them not to worry
When I’m gone;
Tell them not to call a kesha
And mourn, nor proclaim it
In the village that I’m no more
Please don’t bother my
Relatives with funeral plans
Nor the community with expensive
Committees;
Sing not my praises at the graveside
Nor echo my achievements, be they
Real or imagined
Only let me, like some serene
Cloud sail on quietly…
A boat in tranquil waters drifting
To eternity
106
Please let me go in peace for
My life was lived in solitude…
With only the music of itinerant
Birds for comfort;
Of love, my love, I have loved
You…loved you with a passion
Only I understood
Rest me I pray, under the shade
Of some ageless tree grown on the
Banks of a lonely stream facing
A field of flowers, that I may smell
The roses forever and watch the
Sunrise, eternally at peace
**
Countless suns rose and set
Many moons waxed and waned
Rivers ran in flood and dried up
And the sea drank, and though
Drunk, drank still and thirsted
Yet for more
While under the full court of
Distant and mighty stars it accused
The blazing sun of greed,
Malicious hunger and endlessly
Unreasonable demands for more
Thus represented, a hastily
Convened cloud jury disdainfully
Thundered their judgement and
Upheld their verdict with
Lightning finality…
That the lowly inhabitants of
The earth below may hear of it
And marvel when the elements
Quarrel
107
The seasons changed, and again
Changed some more
**
She knew he was coming
She knew the place and the
Time, but not wanting to look
Impetuous, she found a post
By the path that justified
Coincidence
He knew he’d find her
Waiting in that basic way
All those in Love often do…
O how these merciful winds
Carry private thoughts to
Convenient and opportune spots
The mood she affected was
Indifferent, yet tinged with
An element of pleasant
Surprise;
Pray, how does one approach
Such beauty without disgrace?
Where, tell me, are the lover’s
Hymns?
**
This is home to me
I know every blade of grass
The wart of every tree
The sighs of every stream;
Each hidden forest path
Is my calling,
Every thunderclap my
Heartbeat
108
Here the mountains tell
Me their secrets, and does
Not the wild wind sing to
Me with passion?
Even the hawk sometimes
Tells me of the places he has
Been… of all the wondrous
Skies he has known
**
Did you not do it?
For the sake of truth
Did you not challenge
The gods in flight feathers
And dubious wax?
I hear that to this day,
Falcons schedule conferences
To understand your dreams
At the rate of a feather’s fall,
And I have heard too that
The earth awards points for
The advertised consistencies
Of wax
**
The wind and I are friends
We follow no set course, but
Drift wherever we please,
In us and within our souls
Lie the many shapes of life
And the carefree abandon
Of freedom and youth
The moon has known me since
I was a little child, innocently
Frolicking with curiosity, and
In many instances lost in the
109
Grand and awesome scheme
Of things
But as for the river I have
Never understood him, for he
Wears too many convenient
Faces and harbours too many
Deep secrets
Under his calm shiny surface
I see who we really are…
Know all we know not, but to
Tell you the truth, its not
Entirely his fault
**
These raindrops
Splatter to very private
Ends upon my grumbling
Roof,
I look out for the
Stars but know deep down
That they have retired…
(At least until the weather
Becomes a tad more accommodating)
And sadly left me without
An audience to air my
Grievances to
**
China…India… Arabia…
Japan… the warm tropical
South Sea Islands… enchanting
Locales in the spicy pots that
Brew wanderlust
That sane men risked life
110
And repute to appropriate the
Fortunes told of in those lands…
Braving mighty oceans in wooden
Hopes of enterprise
They were men, I tell you
And they shame me at my
Timidity and complacency;
Just think omwami, all I’ve
Ever dared to do is hope and
Scheme and plan and hatch
Grand plots, thus while others
Seek the paths to glory and
Fortune, I warm my feet in
The familiar fires of home, yet
Hope to achieve recognition
**
I’ve tried to describe
You… to render you in structured
Word and thought, but simple poetry
May not have been designed
For such perfection
Forgive me if such eloquence
Doesn’t freely flow in rhymed
Pursuit of you my dear;
One simply cannot paint a
Sunset in such basic colours
As black, white and grey
**
It is quite irreproachable
To kick a strong man on his
Deathbed if he refuses to
Honour an old debt,
But first take a one shilling
Coin and drop it by his head;
111
If he doesn’t turn (and God
Help he does not) celebrate the
Fact that he dies, and pray
Sincerely that he gets a good
Job collecting firewood for
The sun
But woe unto you if he does
Turn, for then the capitalist in
Him shall surely live!
Divide your possessions amongst
Thy sons, and if you have none,
The heathen then, for he shall surely
Swear by muratina at your folly,
And inherit all your wives
**
Mon ami, this is a solution
Waiting breathlessly for a
Problem…
We are a disaster just hoping
For any excuse to happen
And you ask why she
Doesn’t want me?
You just don’t understand;
I’m ugly, even in the deepest
Shadows of night
**
Obiero my age mate, these are
Strong words you speak
Watch lest you fall under
Their weight and break
Your jaw
Is she not beautiful?
What makes you think
112
She would ever greet you
If you ever met on your
Way home? Yet you dare
Dream in English…
Perhaps this lakeside sun
Boiled your brains a long
Time ago?
But what do I know?
My head is full of potatoes
And this beer you so generously
Provide;
Omwami, though your
Pocket is hungry, your heart
Is honourable
Who am I to speak anyway?
She may yet notice you in
The market amongst your fish
**
She passed by in a cultured
And eloquent gait, faithfully
Attended to by adoring clouds
Of designer perfume
And as my appreciative
Attentions admired carefully
Attired curves, an artfully
Painted face scowled in
Civilized scorn, and blanketly
Condemned both the traffic
Light and me
**
There are many places along
The lake shore that harbour
Resentment and encourage
Unresolved conflict;
113
Places where the mighty waters
Take turns to assault and comfort
These tough beaches
Each boulder is both a friend
And foe, and only the fish in
The market place intimately
Understand whatever complex
Rules that govern this forsaken
Paradise
This is no place to walk alone
Or blindly, as it respects
Nobody;
Except maybe only they that
Know the heartbeat of nature
Are safe, for I have heard
That occasionally, peace comes
Even with the rising tides
**
They lit a fire and butchered
A ram;
Over obliging coals they lay
A young bull
Fuelled by nyama choma,
Traditional beer and the memories
Of past glories they sharpened
Their spears, danced in silver
Starlight and dreamt of manly
Herds
Led by cunning treachery
And the keen edge of their
Swords they honoured the bloodlines
Of their warrior ancestors and
Plundered their neighbours
114
To claim worthy beasts and
Choice maidens… to fulfil
The dictates of tradition, and
Forever be immortalized in
Tribal legend
**
This moon sometimes
Accompanies winds that
Whisper sweet endearments
To palm fronds, and dance
With each one
The sea is a mirror…
Not only reflecting its own
Moods, but also those of
The rest of the world as
It ages in the slow heartbeats
Of time
Sandy beaches have whispered
To me of promises from the
East, for they know first hand
The eternal rhythm of waves
That visit from exotic lands
Does this night know my
Name? Maybe some itinerant
Owl told it to him, or he
May just as well have heard
It from a turtle that has searched the
Very mysteries of depth
**
I’ve searched amongst my
Acquaintances for understanding
But it’s a two faced fish
115
I’d thought that in this
Multitude I might find a
Confidant, but I’m still
Washing the legs of every
Chicken that clucks by
Memories of they that may
Have stood by me through
The treacherous storms of
Life are definitely very few
And far between
O what wouldn’t I give for
Someone to listen to me dream…
But for friends like you, I
Dare not search too far abroad, lest
I forget the fires of home that
Have always kept me warm
**
In the forest, everything
Happens in silence, except
Maybe for the hushed
Complaints of colobus
Here, all living takes place
Quietly, as does most dying,
Even the most violent and
Painful sort
And only the constant rise
And fall of the wind’s whispered
Breath amongst the leaves
It idly rustles betrays the great
Abundance of life these woods hold…
The necessity of its genesis, and
The certainty of its end
116
**
Mum, when I die, I
Want it to be on a day
Like this
A day when the birds
And the wind and my
Soul are one, and frisky
Dikdik regard me from
Behind low bushes
Yes… today, when all my
Father’s cows are home
And not a lamb has been
Taken by the lions
**
The ghosts of lost hunters
Rattle bones in the half dark
In betweens of hushed woods;
At times, long fingers of
Lightning embark on dazzling
Dissections through brooding
Night
Maybe restless spirits
Seek too other restless
Spirits to keep them company,
And sing songs depressingly sad
All night long
**
There is a clearing way
Beyond the woods that
Guard Muuti and streams
That water many an idyll
Village where elephants once
In a while wage great battles
117
For dominance, and where
Buffalo too not to be
Outdone, flock by the ton to
Stage extraordinary feats
And settle old scores
**
We’ll give her diamonds,
We’ll gift her pearls;
We’ll buy flowers whose meanings
Are very obscure to us, and shower
Her too with exotic gifts we can ill
Afford, nor their names
Properly pronounce
Then there is everything else
Between dinners in places we’d never
Thought existed in black Africa,
To flimsy designer dresses that
Have more name than material,
To perfumes that sound like French
Word puzzles…
And have I accounted for the wines?
Murume, all these for the conditional
Attentions of gold digging femmes
Privately accustomed to lesos, ugali
And very public transport?
**
When these fellows got
Into a misunderstanding (which
Was quite often), they did so
With all the single minded fury
And possession of a buffalo
Charge, and the damage that
Resulted from their passionate
Enterprise was both colossal
118
And magnificent
They were men that knew
Pain and hell too intimately
To fear either
**
When you dance, you make
Me understand many unspoken
Things…
A lot of unsaids that beg to be
Set free
Where my thoughts leave me
And grow wings… soar…
Later to return to me like
Words spoken by someone
Else… riding gracefully on
The backs of winds that readily
Understand obscurity
**
You rarely walk these misty
Woods any more, and the many
Voices of the wind have lost
Meaning to you
The glory of a sunrise,
The many mysteries of the
Night, and the serenity of
This or that river are treasures
Long lost on a heavy heart
**
Come to think of it, their
Life was like an abrupt mist
In these unpredictable hills,
A mist that eventually dissolves
119
In the cool break of yet
Another dawn
Why is the past always so
Clear once it’s lost?
So memorable when only
Memory and hindsight stalk
The present?
If only they’d each had their
Own way…
Flowers somehow tend to
Have only one life, and
Beauty is a fleeting thought…
A free sparrow on the wing…
A mongoose about his own thing
**
The room was something
Pulled out of a dream;
Scented candles, soft music…
The cook was topless
In blue shorts, and grossly
Incompetent;
The cooked was a recently
Healthy chicken content only
On minding his own business
But not quite as lucky
As for the cooked for,
She was an inspired thought
A complete symphony
Dinner, music, flowers…
All in all, it was a night culled
From a thousand ballads
120
**
There is a place I know
Where the wind sits on a
Rainbow and wraps individual
Strains of music, each on it’s
Own beam of sunlight
A place where trees gather
In semi dark communion;
A place where waterfalls
Chase butterflies to pools
Basking in calm surrender
Take my hand and follow
Me… we can expound on
Various theories and discuss
The fate of the world under
Enchanted skies
Let the unimaginative and
The uninspired worry about
More pedestrian things, like the
Fate of their skins under a
Blazing tropical sun
**
Time and the waters run
Eternally deep, as our dreams
Canvas the land;
Endless thoughts drag
Forgotten trains of hope
And despair
Known and unknown,
The elements both kind
And malicious hammer at
Our frail defences like so
121
Many quiet thunders…
Sometimes, though not
Infrequently…
A rainbow
**
I come yet again, dear
Nature, for a little while
Before I go, as my heart
Is full once more of city
Lights and selfish humanity
I need to know once more
The glory of an unspoilt sunset;
Here in the forest I remember
That silence has a
Golden virtue
So here I walk, like a bandit
Stealing the night
**
My life is a song
A dream
A melody in a boat
Drifting through the vast
Oceans of time;
A web of all that’s intricate
Mysterious…
Immortal
Somewhat ancient like
Stonehenge,
The pyramids,
My ancestors?
And yet…
And then…
122
If only
**
I remember those nights
We sat outside in the dark
Talking, holding hands…
Counting the stars in the sky
We had only the needs of
Innocent souls
To climb forbidden trees
Chase a grasshopper…
Run another day
These and all kinds of
Dreams knocking in our
Young hearts;
Each breath you took I
Remember, was mine
**
O, so this is life
To know a dream and chase
It downstream after the
Crystal waters of a mountain
Spring threading its way
Around dancing reeds under
Fragrant skies… I tickle a fish
And shower a basking frog
Darting in and out of memory
And through hidden thoughts…
Forgotten pains set deep in the
Quiet undisturbed riverbeds
Of contentment
**
I’m too young to die
123
Though cares age me past
My days;
The wind expires in a lusty
Howl…
Trees shiver under a canopy
Of ceaseless rain
Moan again and again
O you winds of worry,
Groan in endless pain ye
Trees that guard the night
For my end is not too far
Away
If only I may go like
The storms of April…
Take me on a rampage and
Tear this sky apart…
I’ll rip through the land like
Lightning and prowl each
Shadow like thunder, but
I’ll not go timidly into this
Wild night and oblivion,
No way!
**
Sing, sing joyfully children
A song without beginning
Or end;
Sing it through the hunt
And before the hunt and
After the hunt…
An innocent song while
Herding and swimming
Forbidden rivers
Sing while the sun still
Warms your young souls
124
And let the hills echo with
Your joyful abandon, even
To Gikuri and beyond
When was the last time a
Symphony walked by these
Parts, in the company of
Birds and sunny rain when
Hyenas wed in the sky?
Sing while weaving the sun’s
Rays into a net to catch a bee,
Or a grasshopper to roast in
Your industrious little fires
**
Let’s build a fire to
Spite the chill of night;
Let’s build a fire you and I,
That’s warm and bright
Arrange the stones in
Lines symmetrical;
Let’s discuss all things
Dramatic and theatrical
Coax the fire and
Tend it;
Breathe into it a warm and
Gentle breath that’s soft
And melodious to lead the
Flames into dance
And I’ll race the cool
Mountain winds to the
Valley where streams flow
From the great Aberdares,
To sing of my love to every
125
Discerning ear
**
From the days buffaloes
First grazed in these cold
Wild hills, our warriors have
Since then worn paths through
The dense undergrowth to
Rival those of the mighty
Elephants
Paths that slim and graceful
Wander into the perpetual
Mysteries of these forest deeps;
Paths from the past that
Through the dangerous and
Unpredictable now, walk
Hopefully into tomorrow and
Forever…
Into the immense twilight of
Endless green and brown walls
Of ageless trees
**
And as the night breeze
Sings a lonesome lullaby,
He sits with his eyes closed
And the beginning of a sigh
Parts his trembling lips
The moon broke free from
The clouds and showered
The village in silver light
And the wild wind came
In sobs and sighs
Where the skies are clear
And the sun warm, there
126
You’ll find him under a tree
By the riverbank, lost in
Memory like a tearful cloud
**
I am tired of tears
And sorrow, tired of
Sadness and heartbreak;
I’m weary of the pained
Cries of anguished birds,
And the agony of falling
Flowers on cushioned soils
I cannot bear the constant
Sighs of the ancient wind,
Nor the deep mournful moans
Of tired rivers;
Nay, let not mine ears hear
Yet another pained cry from
A hurting child
**
Yes, it was in a valley
In Muuti I remember,
A secluded spot shaded
By the forest and aired
By a waterfall
A valley with no name
Guarded by ageless trees
And sung to by the hornbills;
Sometime a lame buffalo
Grazed there,
Sometimes a lone leopard
Drank there
It was here that long ago
I heard a song,
127
Saw freedom in a young
Stream…
Said a prayer and knew for
Sure He still loved me
**
The day nears its last
Turn home, the sun bids
Us goodbye and sheds a
Parting ray
On the grass I count
Emerging stars, one, two…
The jealous moon halts my
Count and invites the night
A leopard calls in the
Woods, a hyena laughs in
Reply… sounds of insects,
Sounds of night;
The nightingale stages a
Late solo
Slowly dew settles under
Starlight;
On and on I lie, awake…
Asleep
*** The End ***