A PATRIOTS’ ORDEAL

POETRY

I walk down the street every day,

Never seeing the difference,

Between yesterday; or even yesterday but one and today.

The hullabaloos and mayhems of the city life,

Have made me believe that two world exist in one,

A world of so called, them be ner-meagre,

Them that cannot tell what day it is today,

Them that only wait in anticipation of the next drop,

Drops of cane from city askaris,

Drops of knocks from the “the poor landlords,”

Who claim they sleep hungry, because economy is bad,

And you wonder what makes their tummies bulge like

A water pot or rather a petroleum tanker.

Yesterday I walked aimlessly along the streets,

Trying my best to look civilized,

And I wondered what good it could bring to me,

With all my miserable life to try and be,

What I am not even close to be.

I had decided to take a ride, naturally riding excites me,

Because my tires never lose their strength; the legs,

That guide a miserable skeleton of a true citizen.

Of late I hear from my neighbors’ radio of security concerns,

But I walked knowing I am “secured,”

Suddenly I heard a loud bang and a sharp pain,

I realized I was not sure of daydreaming and reality,

The next moment, I found my lifeless wagon on a bed,

Comfortable than my hard floor,

Then reality hit me, I was a victim of a blast.

This gave me an opportunity, because I got a visit,

You know from who?

The minister of security, I have never seen him,

“Pole ndugu,” is all he said and remarked

“The terrorists will be brought to justice.”

He left afterwards, only a flower in my hospital bed,

Maybe to bid me farewell as I join my other patriots,

Who fought to liberate the freedom of “mheshimiwa.”

I am happy today, that though I missed death,

The minister fired the terrorists; lack of evidence, mmh!

My hard floor and my bedbug friends,

Who depend on me miss me, they must be hungry,

I am going to reunite with them and narrate to them,

My ordeal of a true patriot.

Copyright @2016 Nairobi, Kenya.