If We Must Vote

The cake we're promised is not there
The cake we're promised is not there
How can we live till next season
With abundant nothings, scattered herein?
If we must again vote
Better be unlike before...

Who cares about us?
Who cares about our children?
They too have mouths and stomachs-- big
They silence them first, then listen to ours riot--
Ages to come!
If we must again vote
Better be unlike before!

The cake we're promised is not there
They swallowed it all, so we eat nothing;
See our ribs protruding,
Pity us blown by wind,
See children wrestle with dogs in bins--
Death draws near and near;
Life darts farther and farther...
If we must again vote
Better be unlike before!

They away chased rain--
Besieged its bringers: erecting mills thus
On what they swore to guard
They help themselves, wholly!
Then take us on rounds--eternal darkness
If we must again vote
Better be unlike before!

(c) wafula p'khisa
-Thigh of an Elephant-

Our Song

Something must be wrong with the drum
folks herein forged into the arena
Is it the age it warmed by the fireside
Or faulty fingers fiddling it
Producing muffled sounds?

Such soul-wrenching sounds
Is our song, sung for ages...

The song of this land
Is hard to dance to;
The song of this land
Is hard to listen to--
You will have eardrums rupture
Or your limbs fracture...

But, to live or leave
Calls for taming one's tongue
Silence is most revered--
Let man eat man and grow;
And you, man, eat nothing and wane
You may see the sun!

We sit, silently watching
Men wrestle for control of arena--
Jump around the dull drum;
Stepping on toes, and twisting necks--
That curse the damn tune.

We lost many a best dancer
Who could skillfully twist themselves
And have us nod with satisfaction.
This lot awkwardly twerks bottoms
And acquire tips for nothing...

The monotony of the song
Accepts no duality in dance
Man has to off shake dependents
To savour the tune with ease.

(c) wafula p'khisa
-Thigh of an Elephant-

Once Ago

ONCE AGO, dearest
I laughed and laughed and laughed
In your steamy presence;
My face barren of tears
Into heaven I peered
As sun and moon, in unison:
Cheered on...

YOU held me by hand
Putting crystal eyes on mine innocent self
Seeing future afar linger, fine and flourishing
We in cold huddled, then together gathered sun
Bound forever, like bones and flesh
Sure to harvest endless smiles...

YOU MELTED away then

I CRY and cry and cry--
Deserted, dispossessed and detached;
Tears let me not
See folks for festivities gathered
To savour soil's spices.
To my people I'm alien
So I singly wrestle with winds and storms
And my swollen eyes, and sagged heart
Speak it all!

(c) wafula p'khisa
-Thigh of an Elephant-

Keep Off, I am Taken

I am taken, so keep off
Son of Lazarus.
Can't you see my phallange colonized by a gold ring?
It was planted hereon
To mark sphere of influence
By he who adores best-- in hunger and satiation
So keep off, I am taken.

I belong to a big man with a Benz
Bossy and big-bellied, like a woman heavily pregnant
Owner of power-- top and bottom;
Who scatters light and darkness in unequal measure
Then roughly rides me without rest
So keep off, I am taken.

See, he's no small man
To eat termites with boys along village paths
Be silly not to think you can topple him
Dear skinny and miserable man
Who can't even afford an iron horse;
Dear skinny and miserable man
Who can't even scrap himself clean
And stop eating leaves like a rabbit.
So keep off, I am taken.

I am ain't so cheap
to be eaten by your type
I am ain't abating
to be spat by men and licked by boys
whose spears wane upon kissing my lips
And wastefully vomit butter.
I've strong man with stamina
Whose holy hoe digs holes hollow, without waning!
So keep off, I am taken.

This razor I can't give you
Even if you cry oceans of tears
What if you stupidly slice your skin?
The blood with which you're to buy our freedom will be wasted
What if you collapse whilst doing the thing?
Boy, I don't want to be accused of murder
I've nothing to smuggle into stomachs
of men in black robes with rare smiles...
To lie truthfully, and my freedom safeguard
So keep off, I am taken.

Dare not draw near
Boy, I'll crush your balls
and ruin your sperm store!
Let not someone starve to death
Because I broke the hand to feed her;
Let not someone's shamba grow bushy and thorny
Because I broke the hoe to plough it
If today I pluck your penis
So keep off, I am taken.

(c) wafula p'khisa
-Thigh of an Elephant-

A Thousand Sunsets

A Thousand Sunsets

[In Memory of Fallen Comrades Herein and Beyond]

Tears clog our swollen eyes
Thus denying sight, of dazzling moon
Every darkest hour of despair
Whilst sunken hearts hum hymns
To see off a thousand sunsets...

What do gods crave from us?
The soul of whole clan
or bitter tears of bereft orphans?
We have emptied our pens:
Sacrificed and libated-- in sacred shrines
Painted our doorposts red
To keep the deadly angel at bay;
Why then can't we stop dying
hourly, easily and in clusters like helpless flies?

We have suspended sowing seeds
To sow souls instead--
Slain to appease alien gods
or pave way for our eaters.
We have suspended sowing seeds
To sow helpless souls instead
Who couldn't cling to dear lives
In adverse reign of terror.

... Soon stomachs will rumble
Asking for what isn't there!
We're promised life to feed ballots
Then heads lost heads:
They only serve slow poison and lead
When we near their high tables,
Question their bulging bellies and our protruding bones
Or stare at their swelling pockets.

We die, forever die!

I have heard and seen souls strangled
I will hear and see souls strangled
By the state and fragile invincible foes
On this accursed very soil!
But, with the law digging claws down my throat
Stare on, helpless, enduring
Our eaters spit choking nonsense!

Our sleeps were snatched yesternight
By death song of guns afar
Silencing our comrades
Who had stretched wings afar
To gather light from heads of men.
Their screams tore our sunken hearts;
We wailed, cursed, swore and passed out...

Innocent souls are dished to death
On rugged grey linings to success
Or as sacrificial lambs to some gods
And we mourn our generation--
Eaten away in its infancy
By hungry wolves before uncaring chiefs...
Sending early sunsets--
A thousand sunsets! 

(c) wafula p'khisa