Song of a Lovelorn...

        
Sad are those whose pleas,
Suffer cruel rejection,
At the heavensgate.
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            Sikhukhaya siama mukhanwa siakwa*
Like an accused in the dock,
I plead guilty:
Of digging on rocks;
Sowing the mustard among thorns...

Termites reject me thus,
Because of chronic deficiency herein;
And sunset, in my face--
Written by hasty wrinkles!
My mouth; a dry well,
Dishonours dictates, the heart dishes...

I shall not give a bribe,
To elect the best...
I shall not beg. No!
Before a woman, man only kneels:
To perform the ritual sacred...

Never, in futile fights,
To hoist flags.
Tell them, tell them for me,
I will no more try my heart;
Racing to betroth them.
I will no more try my heart,
Bracing to hold their broken breasts!

I won't let my mouth water--
Wasting precious saliva,
To drink from their wells accursed,
Boys swim in-- without costumes,
For free!

*what defeats you falls off your mouth.

(c) wafula p'khisa

Reign of Terror.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     At each point
Teas are taken--
Strictly
As if it's tax.

Sweat and blood
Are siphoned
By uniformed dogs
Stinginess on faces;
Registers wrath
Terror reigns thus...

Trees of life
Are ever taller
During fruition:
We can't climb
Nothing we reap thus...

Like the serpent accursed
In dust we crawl--
Hungry and sick
Praying, forever praying
A radical star
Amid us to emerge.

We, destitutes
Scatter spoiled seeds--
Into men sprouting
Who, upon wetting throats;
With wines of arrogance
For ages sleep
Leaving us for winds thus...

Who points
Them in the eye?
Oh, brother
Your itchy throat
Will overnight
Be slit!

Crumbs of justice
Falling at a pauper's feet
Is like water in Sahara
He will never taste
Even if for ages waits...

Knowledge givers prefer
Walk to chalk--
In filthy streets
Crying for pay-rise...

Hoe-men hoard food
To wander like vagrants
Crying for rise of rice;
And mechanics of our bodies,
Seriously toy
With souls ailing!

(c) Wafula p'Khisa
-Lirango Lienjofu-

Rejected.

Rejected.

Father, you anointed me
Like David decades ago:
Your sheep to lead
Through dark waters; thus triumph
Over evils of egocentric men
But I was rejected!

Your servant was deprived
Of the dream lived for ages;
Under the sun he was robbed,
Whilst justice well thrived
He shed blood
Once tear wells ran dry
Upon rejection.

I for my people cried
Numbed by cold in tents;
Ousted from ancestral soils...
To taste joy, and have peace
Once rejected.

For ages
Lured with lolls,
I was underfed-- with roughage
Whilst my brothers' bellies bellowed with worms
On fours I for them stood
Then honoured with rejection. 

(c) wafula p'khisa

This Land, My People!

Campaigns are conducted in flashy cars,
Whilst iron birds above scatter posters--
Images of some overfed ugly bugs,
And ill-crafted idiotic ideologies:
Selling policies to whoever has votes to buy,
Their funerals!

Reaching the ballot,
Is an ageless walk.
Things go bad:
Winners lose; losers win!
And we tearfully ululate,
Singing democracy...

Big men finance feasts;
Small men fire fists--
Negotiating for shares,
Only obtained through bloodshed...

The python's mouth's wide open,
Warmly welcoming dissents--
Who dare spit in the kings face;
Ruin his reputation,
And admire the palace!

The king's dogs wander,
Sniffing for our bones,
Tear our pockets,
Then to hell drag us:
''Guilty till proven innocent!''
Engorged crows croak,
And unless gods intervene,
Soon you're forgotten!

Happy are those in power,
For they hold the helm of this land's life.
Sad are those in the gutter,
For they shall lose lives fighting for havens;
In streets they shall sing and dance,
Bark and shed big waters,
But retire and sleep on empty stomachs,
And the sun will rise--
Again and again!

(c) wafula p'khisa
- Lirango Lienjofu-
[Thigh of an Elephant]

Song of Loyalty.

The heart offers what to eat
I pledge to spit you not thus
As did the gecko to a caterpillar.

I have no reason to quit our game
I have no reason to turn our hem;
It's sewn to fit,
You I can't leave, even if coerced by fate,
Daughter of Mirriam.

Better is the bird in hand...
Say sages of the land,
I can't plunge into this wild bush--
Craving for two to relish...

Daughter of Miriam,
I pledge
thus:

Wherein you will dine
I too shall dine--
Be it in a downtown motel
Or a slum rotel
I will be with you!

Wherein you will spend the night
I too shall sit to bite:
The airy loaf I've missed for ages
Since the morning we parted at crossroads...
I will be with you!

Mistake me not
For the beast making you scream
I am of a different breed
Scared not by thunderstorms
and droughts
I'll wait storms to cool;
I'll wait droughts to see rain
I am of a different breed--
Awash with love and care
Mistake me not!

Break not and cry;
Here comes a sunbird
Humming, to your ear, old tunes--
On wings to away carry you
Break not and cry;
Here comes a sunbird...

If the sun lives to shine
I shall live to love you;
If the rain lives to rain
I shall live to love you,
But, should they wane,
With you I'll retire
Alone herein is unbearable.

(c) wafula p'khisa
-Lirango Lienjofu-
[Thigh of an Elephant]

Wits for the Wise.

Hold on tears son,
Crying over little inadequacies:
Is no use.
Just rays of the rising sun they are,
The worst are yet to happen--
By the time it sets...

You came whilst innocent,
But life will make you cross paths,
Thence be guilty of everything when leaving.
Grey you'll go waiting for golden opportunities--
They hardly come forth,
Unless you opt for backdoors:
To easily grasp them.

You will meet women,
Whose hearts are as dry as the Sahara--
No seed of love you can sow to grow.
You will meet women,
With hearts hard like a cashew;
And no magipower of seduction can through break them.
But your heart shall cry and die,
For a place in their sacred lives...

Sometimes you'll chance upon angels--
Their hearts so cool like fresh milk,
So men slay each other over them!
You'll have to choose love or death.
If you love my son,
Mess not with an angel--
You'll be courting disaster.
But if you choose death:
Then die a matyr of a love so worthwhile...

Strive to survive under the sun,
Nothing freely is acquired,
But be wary of your ways--
The road doesn't tell he who on it walks,
Our people say.
Lest you're crippled by thorns and stumps,
That invisibly await you impatiently...

By all means,
Learn every man's language:
To grasp what his heart speaks,
For and against you;
But by dictates of your heart act.

(c) Wafula p' Khisa

Broken.

Amidst the wind of time,
On a golden chariot:
You retired, behind leaving only the name,
I sing, day and night;
To remain sane...

Your last hasty kiss,
Away sucked my breath.
Your cold faulty hands,
Out squeezed my life; thus ruining my health,
Thence I've never seen the sun...

You robbed me,
Of the only possession-- the word;
When love in you I craved to see,
Whilst singing my people's most revered ballad,
On lone paths...
Upon disengaging...

Forsaken,
Emaciated,
I no more walk in the rain;
Which, once we loved,
Oh, I can be carried by kumukhula!

The spirit of a love cherished,
Born, but dried before dawn:
Haunts me all night.
Little lovely Loyce, wherein,
You opted to save my joy,
Is the haven I'll live journeying to...

*kumukhula-- torrent

An Empire Crumble.

Crowning aliens has been our norm,
For ages, to rule us thus.
When Muliro, our hopeful retired:
Into desolation we deep sank,
Till the mighty orator sprouted;
But before dawn dried...

Our given fortune lost,
Heads we lower; and endorse alien heads thus,
Who walk tall amongst us--
Blocking the sun from reaching us,
And with iron rods,
Serve our bristled buttocks!

Seasons see us starve,
After swallowing sacraments, and to their tune dancing--
Our tongues tamed to tell not tragic tales,
We hear befall men with restless tongues,
In the line of duty...

In our leaking hut,
Women are busy bearing boys--
Who roll their tails and coil around the hearth;
Fighting over termites;
Unperturbed by what leopards could do to our flock outside,
Unperturbed by the golden handshakes offered secretly...
But, wasn't it because of darkness,
That a cockroach passed by a chicken's beak?

They sell us at thirty pieces of silver,
So they could afford a trip to glory,
Wherein they forget the mosquito stings we shared,
As on earth elephants trample us!
In the vast wild scattering...

When will,
The wind waft,
The scent of reason,
Towards us?

* for the Luhya Nation.
(c) Wafula p'Khisa.