A State House Visit.

Who doesn’t know him,

That son of the soil:

Whose name appealed to many ears like a popular riddim,

Whose dream incited the folks with anger to boil,

Whom thirst for knowledge had taken far-

And had him intoxicated with insanity,

We baptized him sir!

 

We were together in hell,

I blanketed him with my shadow,

Tear gas he couldn’t inhale,

And when we fly to heaven; he foresaw,

I would sit on his right,

And be served with bread and butter,

And accumulate peace day and night,

Because mine life will be better.

 

Gates opened,

I crawled out destined to hustle,

But he clung on my back: help he needed,

I stood like a bamboo pole,

So he could climb to the top,

I interpreted his dream to my clansmen,

I knelt for them to endorse him,

And on a sunny day like this:

He got countless votes,

His name ruled the airwaves!

 

And he left on a motorcade,

With some creatures I knew not,

I ran to embrace him, but his boys became rude:

They ravaged my skin with whips so hot,

Until I neared the breaking point,

When they injected a bullet into my flesh!

The son of the soil didn’t see;

He was drunk with ecstasy.

 

To a garage was I rushed,

For my flesh to be formatted,

As I wait for a ticket to heaven.

My friend didn’t come,

So did the ticket!

I phoned him. But oh,”Samahani, mteja wa nambari unayopiga hapatikani mwaka huu.

Tafadhali jaribu mwaka jana au ujao!”

I was warned.

And my persistence made him switch off!

 

I missed the promised heaven,

I salivated for the bread and butter,

I longed to live his dream,

So I paid him a visit-

In the state house.

Uninvited!

 

No bird flew me there,

No Benz drove me there;

But my feet.

A security officer advised me to hide-

For the big man would vomit at my sight,

But wasn’t he not a lifetime friend?

Had we not been in hell together?

I resisted.

 

And my quest ended,

I was kicked like a ball,

And branded the president’s assassin;

Send by bandits of justice!

So well they worked on me,

He glimpsed at me through a window,

And signaled them to return me to hell:

Our one time haven-

Where I am rotting today.

(c) 2013.

KHISA. W. Pius.