The Pseudo-Species

Image credit: as above

…Uvivu ni adui mkubwa

Wa ujenzi wa taifa

Kwani nicho kiini hasa

Kisababishajo njaa…

Break of dawn, the fleeting music of Maroon Commandos

Lilting from KBC idhaa ya taifa, rousing the nation

From slumber

Urging them to kick their blankets and hit the ground running

It is another dawn, another morning, another struggle

There is something in sleep, good folks,

In the morning that brings sorrow to men untold

Figuratively speaking, lethargy in contrast to the

Fast disappearing darkness to usher a new day

Isn’t it a demoralizing forerunner to the heralding sun

To lie horizontal to the otherwise vertical shafts of the sun rays?

Where is the pomp in the cowardly shield of sleep to the realities of a new day?

But it is not for me to pass a harsh sentence

After all there are “morning persons” and “night persons”

Each so different , of that we are on the same page

Night persons ploughing along late into the night

Eyes as wide-awake, nerves as elastic as a rubber band

Morning persons as dutiful as the Muezzin up as early as 3 a.m

Be that as it may, I have no grudges on these two species

There is a pseudo-species I need to talk about

The one that sleeps early, wakes up late

All day long he had been possessed with reckless impunity on time

No deadlines to meet, no goals to achieve, no failures to be afraid of

And as such, a day to him is a chore, a sickening ritual

Morning could as well be evening, end of day

Isn’t met with unfinished business, that feeling of

“Guilt” for disappointing an item in the to-do-list

And as such, at break of dawn,

the fleeting music of Maroon Commandos

Lilts from KBC idhaa ya taifa

Ewe ndugu yangu wee

Amka kumekucha

Kamata jembe na panga

Twende shamba

But where is our pseudo-species

To listen to the chastisement of Maroon Commandos

This message is not for our pseudo-species:

It is for those with the adrenalin rush to achieve,

He is not,

It is for those with deadlines to beat, goals to achieve

He is not,

It is for those with the spring in their feet and a poise in their heads,

He is not,

But again, this message could be for him

It worries me if they were 10 or 50 or 500 or 1000 of them

What nation will we have?

A nation of a pseudo-species, with pseudo-goals

With a pseudo-mission here on earth?

…Ndugu yangu kumekucha

Amka twende shamba

Jiepushe na uvivu

Tujenge taifa…

I want him to draw line in the sand today

And say, “Enough is enough”

Wring sleep in his hands and cast it into the sunrise

For it disappoints to see him

Cuddled in torn blankets in a shack

And never put breakfast on table

Yet there weren’t other ways of eking out a living

Than for him to cut through dawn to disentangle from poverty

There were no medals, in the past or now, for those

Who gave a winking glance to the glory of sunrise

…Uvivu ni adui mkubwa

Wa ujenzi wa taifa

Kwani nicho kiini hasa

Kisababishajo njaa…

Pseudo-Species, choose ye now

Either probity or derision

Exercise thy fair judgment

Lorot Son of the Hills has spoken.

C) Lorot Salem 2011