Skip to main content

Remembrances



Soft faces in tender places, I remember
Shy lips and high hips, cold, the embers
Soft skin and what could have been
Echoes of stillness, in my labour, I have seen.

Dotted noses and eyes brows, I have kissed
In the throes of passion, questions missed
Loved etched, sketched and drenched
Here now I stand, on the world’s edge.

It is a warm, fuzzy August night, as some books say. Mice scurry about, fat cats on their tails’ ends. I guess this is still so in one of your many books. Anyway, them books have squeezed me out of your heart and mind. Surely strange, but to love you in one still world is impossible when you live in so many. I am sure, too, that there is a pretty poem that says what’s in my heart about our situation. Adios.

Feverish nights, grey nights, my dreams are possessed
Yet, come morning, the old hauntings are to be dispensed
The day is come, revealing the world as it is – boring
I long for dusk, then I can pirate to adventure – roaring.

It is a holiday. I am in the house. With my husband and son. It is a dull day to be outside. My son – such a bother he is. He asked. Where does the world end? Where does it begin? My husband shrugged. Your problem, he flexed a smile. So, I thought of you. I hope you find the answers. For our son.

There is song in the water, in the wind, in the sky, in the earth
There is dance everywhere - the battlefield, the hearth
The church has begun their all-night worship – chanting and singing
The guilt creeps in, why am I drinking – and my other sinning?





Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Lessons from Burundi: Comedy Season

Where I come from, we have an influx of foreigners. Already, we have an area by the name Congo, named so because it had an influx of Bakongo refugees, fleeing the war in their country… Congo, Zaire and back to DRC… The Democratic Republic of Congo. Very soon, we might have areas such as Sudan (South), Burundi, Rwanda, etc., etc. Fun fact, Dynamiq, He of ‘Remember them Days in Nairobi’ used to be our neighbour in Coast. Anyway, these Burundian have taken over the groundnut and the coffee (and KDF – the gluten stomach holder) hawking business. On their part, their Rwandan neighbours have taken over the phone accessories’ hawking business, almost as if by some tacit agreement – bilateral trade agreement or something. The Burundians, night and day, they trade, huge flasks of ready coffee, the mwananchi version, and buckets of said body-building, economic-miracle-worker, KDF in tow. Ever been served by a Ugandan lady? Down on their knees, submissive service that will have you selling your ...
Post a Comment
Read more

My-Once Molly (thinking of Valentine),

My-Once Molly… the girl who broke my heart, the one who got away, the one who promised me the world and left me to survive alone – typical of our Kenyan politicians… I hope you are good. Now, as February – the month of love – lurks about, I find myself thinking of you. Thing is, my dear Molly, I have new neighbours. A young couple, very much in love like we once were. The young lady, her name is Val… maybe Valentine… I don’t know. This Val, a spirited girl with rich, deep, heaving laughter - almost like yours. Her smile… ah! You should see it. The shine of the morning sun distilling the dew upon cool meadows… I am totally in love with her. Alarmingly, she teases me much and I am getting ideas… Molly, dear, wherever you are, please pray for me… the temptation is too much. If you don’t, the frail creature that I am may fall. This, despite having numerous songs in my playlist to warn me. Invariably, Majengo – that infamous locale – does a dishonourable appearance in most of them… ‘Maj...
Post a Comment
Read more

My Once-Molly (Political versus Business Ethics),

  Dear Molly. How are you? As always, I hope you are well. You know, there is something about you, something that made me inspire for better. Was it that rich smokers’ laughter of yours? The daring twinkle that flashed in your eyes when you were angry? The tight curl in your lips when you were about to lash out? Anyway, Molly, I continue with my business training. I am now thinking of business as warfare – the honourable kind of warfare; chivalry, observing the rules… not the Machiavellian 48-Laws-of-Power warfare where there is no honour, but only winning. Politics of deceit, our president calls it. Well, these past couple of days have been chilly… a precursor to June’s biting cold? Anyway, I am more often sad than happy during the cold months of June and July. I totally blame this on Sam Kahiga’s short story, ‘The Last Breath’ – if my memory serves me right. Off the ‘Encounters from Africa’ anthology. There is a way he made June and July sad. Pretty much like you wouldn’t tai...
Post a Comment
Read more