OUR DIRE NEED AS KENYANS

Her skin sags from her cheek
And so that it doesnt bother her more
she ties it close to the cheek bone
That is the picture of Kenya at hunger
Its a dire situation
The children no longer go to school
Not that they dont like it anymore
What with the newly introduced laptop!
But they've to fetch water
At the village well
The only one that has not dried up
And so the queue forms
Minutes tick away into hours
Oblivious of the missed lessons
When the children are back home,
Its already two in the afternoon
Their empty stomachs-
These which have not had a meal for days give up
And there is no logic to go to school
Only to learn for 30 minutes
But how are they supposed to learn as they yawn?
The old lady is only their grandmother,
Their mother has not been back for days
As she seeks relief food
And on the last day ,
A merchant of death brokers theirs portion for sale.
So she wonders-
Whats the use of going back home?
Where the hungry stares of children saps my last energy
And the dying face of old mama tears all hope of life!
That is our dire need-As kenyans.

CONVERSATIONS

Hummed in low tones yet never dying down
Done in secluded places as in open paths
From rooftops in moonlit country,
As in dark poorly lit hamlets,
Addressed to kings and queens
Through emissaries and missives,
Sounding like the noise in a congregation,
That never dies down.
Throughout the night word goes round,
With women shielding their echos,
So word doesn't land on just anyone
But reaches the intentioned.
These are the conversations about ourselves,
And the things we crave for,
Its talks about our culture,
And about our government.
It is this pregnant moment,
That fills our thoughts
And saturates our dreams.
If walls have ears,
And the still quiet moment that listens gives way,
They would say what we're engaged in .
They would say this is the conversations,
That broke away from the past,
And charted a future for us,
And for our children.

TATTER OF THE TIMES

A cloth is no longer one
If its shredded into pieces,
Because the fragments don't hold
As to make a garment.
That's what happens,
When time is mutilated,
And life's fabric tears,
As the impact is ignored.
When the cry of the next person,
Is greeted by the groan and sigh of a war child,
When bombs rain on men,
And teargas smoke poison their lungs,
With no fresh air to breathe,
As all the trees were cut long ago,
And what is left is a scorching sun,
That brazenly burns with venom.
Its rays becoming hotter ,
As ozone layer suffered the same fate.
And so we bake as in an oven,
Crying of our circumstance which won't go.
 Mitigating the effects by holding conferences!
And nothing good coming out of it.

LOVE,THE GREATEST.

It keeps no record of wrongs
It keeps,
Only that which is fond to the heart
Its not retaliatory,
But just forgiving.
It keeps hope burning,
Where disappointment after another has ruled.

Love assumes the best,
Even when the worst has already happened
Over and over again it believes
It triumphs over everything
Its the last candle burning
Nay, its the only candle that burns
When all others no longer burn.

Love is kind.
It is courteous,
Even when the worst tongue speaks.
Among the lowly and the despised,
Where society has cast a dark spell,
Love finds a dwelling place.
Because to them who've lost everything,
Even their sense of being loved,
Love brings back,
Their sense of purpose.

Love your God,
With all your heart.
Love thy neighbor,
As you love thyself
Love loves others first,
It finds purpose,
In the joy it creates in others.
It is in giving them the love,
That it triumphs
And wins over everything
Because of that-It is the greatest.

BREAK THE CEILING

There's no limit to how high up you can go,
but going down you've to land.
And so whats this barrier up?
Every time i look up,
There is the gut telling me,
To break the ceiling,
After all its a glass ceiling.
I'll take care of the pieces,
Rather than die knowing there's a limit,
Of which i can't exceed.
To stay the same,
And not to know the next,
Is to look at the mountain,
And believe there is no other side
Just because its high up.
Remember we've got one life to live.
So to crawl as you go,
to know that there is a beyond which not,
Is to undermine the makers plan.
You see he thinks your'e grand,
Your entry was no lesser,
And so should be your parade
So shall be your exit,
When the cold sullen stream flow.
Break something then,
Smash some barrier,
Gain entry.
For heavens sake do something.
If its a ceiling for a barrier-break it!

REMOVED

I am in absentia,
from the toils that deflate man.
I am missing in action
from the worry of the way,

INSEPARABLE

When a poor man begs but sustenance,
From a rich man well endowed,
The rich though with much,
is just like the poor without.
To them both is destiny.
Before them lies a tapestry of motions,
Removed from them as in fate.

Just as both welcome a new day at the nick of time,
And none earlier than the other apart from will,
So are they inseparable from each other.
Joined at the hip,
they're like conjoined twins.
Each need the other.
And if freedom for one is sweet,
life for the other is nonetheless sweeter.

And so are these times we are.
Like the threads of the raiment,
Our forward mobility as a nation
is but determined as a collective whole.
If just a few think they've crossed over to canaan,
Leaving the masses behind,
So swift will be their coming back,
On realising they're only part of the whole,
And no less than the whole can attain freedom.

Tis a parable to discern.
Its meaning none can decipher,
Except if one on behalf of the other.
So that if one knows,all know.
So that if one go,all go ,
Lest the rich build high walls for their security,
And the poor spend their waking hours,
Scheming on how to scale the walls.
So that what is held by some,
By fate,becomes one to be held by all.

If those in high places,
Devise ways of accumulating much,
And that trigers actions that deny others of a fair share
So will a country that seems to have much,
Just mark-time.
Because the soul that creates, being one,
Does so equally.
Its equlibria none can beat,
And to correct one ,the other must suffer,
So as to set in motion a state of balance.
And this is the inseparability of the two,
Its all or none at all.
Its neither or all.