My Grandma and I

We sit at night with my grandma

A glowing tin-lamp

She a happy old folk

And I her grandson

“Please be calling me,” she says,

“Because you make my night’s sleep so happy and easy”

She finds joy in small things

She tells me to read hard

So that she boasts to others of having “officers”

She knows M-PESA

Tells me how she “signed” beside her name

Yet granny never went to school

She notices that I have added some weight

Tells me, “Grandson, Nairobi has kept you well”

Her wish is that when Tororot calls her

They will count her grandchildren and great grandchildren

She has the figures now and keeps adding them

From her voice, she would be happier if they were more

“Read hard grandson,” she tells me,

“the world nowadays feeds those who have gone to school”

Then I show her four books

I tell her “All these are in my head—all of them”

She looks at them bewildered

“All these, grandson? Not a small fight, this!”

Grandma never dreams of big things

She wants a new mattress and a blanket

And may be a lesso

She wants to be visited by all her grandchildren

Like her neighbour’s grandchildren

She wants a new iron roof over her head

This will make her happy, she says

I give her 200 shillings

She breaks into a dance

Spits into my hands, says prayers to me

Tells me, “Let my saliva smoothen your paths

Whatever is dry, let it be wet and soft”

Grandma sings out

Then stops and says, “Grandson, I hope I will be

There to see you eat at the shade”

“Get your first salary,” She foresees, “then bring it to me

I will bless you, your granary will never be empty”

Then as sleep crept upon her

I walked her to her hut

In the dark night, Grandma and I walked,

Side by side, with a phone lighting her way

It was about to rain

And as she stepped into her hut

I stood there, smiling

Consumed in her “halo” presence

“I love you grandma,” I whispered

The night carried away those words

It felt so good, it felt so nice

C) Lorot Salem 2011

Lorot Son of the Hills’ Notes

I actually wrote this poem on 1^st August 2011, a day after a wonderful night spent with my grandmother. That night will be etched in my memory. I particularly remember her wonderful stories. She said that she had been sent some money through M-PESA, a local money transfer facility in Kenya. It is a requirement that the recipient signs beside ones name. Now, grandmother ( she has never seen the inside of a class), gets hold of the pen and demonstrates how she signs her signature in the fashion of how the educated do. Funny Koko.