When the Cinema Came to My Village

When the Cinema came to my village

It was the biggest thing ever

My brothers and I

Sat on sand

In front

Was a big white cinema

I remember how Rambo

Killed everyone

The Terminator, Commando,

Bruce Lee, Shaolin Tempo

These people fell from tall buildings

Then stood on both feet

The next day, a 13 year-old

Climbed a tree and jumped

Well, he was no Rambo

So don’t wait to hear what happened next

When the Cinema came to my village

Old men laughed to expose their toothless grins

When people kissed, they covered their faces

Eish, these wazungus love each other!

I remember  a boy asked me,

“These people are bad, how can they burn

Their houses instead of giving us?”

I am still thinking of the answer,

But I know what the audience wants

So, back then,

We shaved clean to be like Shaolin Tempo

We made small plant guns

And became Commando

The problem is that along the way,

Hollywood didn’t scout for talents in this neck of the woods

Poem shared with

Imaginary Garden with Real Toads

As I Travel Here

Photo Credit: flickr

As I travel here,

My feet will grow weary sometimes

As I travel here,

My head will be stuffed sometimes

As I travel here,

The incessant drone will fill my ears

But

I remain a pilgrim.

I have been to this road before,

My ancestors shook this dust before

They looked up to the Sun,

“Kong’asis”, they named the East

Their feet was bruised by rocks,

Yet they climbed treacherous hills and mountains

There is music in my ears,

There is fresh air filling my lungs

As I travel here,

I see distant homesteads beyond the hills

I will set forth

I will tighten my akala shoes

As I travel here,

I know the destination

As I travel here,

My heart is full of joy of this sojourn

Poem shared with Real Toads.

Lenten Journey- Day 12

#1

You who toil everyday

You who fail to observe Sabbath

I ask, when do you worship?

Ewe unayetia bidii

Unayepuuza siku ya Sabato

Nauliza, unaabudu lini?

#2

His words command obedience

They are not like ours

Scattered within a fairy tale

Maneno yake yanafaa utii

Si kama yetu

Zilizotapakaa katika ngano

#3

You heard the Constitution

Like a human being, is a living document

So are God’s words

Ulisikia kwamba Katiba

Sawa na binadamu, inaishi

Hivyo basi ndivyo maneno ya Mungu

Lenten Journey- Day 12

#1

Let us have high priests among us

Though not sinless

To guide our pilgrimage

Na tuwe na Makuhani Wakuu miongoni mwetu

Japo wasiwe watakatifu

Kutuelekeza katika imani yetu

#2

Who hijacked the process

I mean, what went wrong

That those not called masquerade as ones?

Nani aliiteka nyara shughuli

Ni nini kilienda upogo

Hivi kwamba wanafiki wameenea?

 

Lenten Journey – Day 12; March 26th 2012

Biblical Scripture: 2 Corinthians 3:4-11

Feel free to explore the Lenten Journey at Cloaked Monk Blog

Lenten Journey- Day 12

#1

Nothing is expensive

To our Lord

For all belongs to him

Hakuna kilicho ghali

Kwake Mungu

Kwani vyote ni vyake

#2

His message will out

Even if ‘elements’

Might be miffed

Ujumbe wake utaenea

Hata ikiwa maadui

Wataghafilika

Lenten Journey – Day 12; March 26th 2012

Biblical Scripture: 2 Corinthians 3:4-11

Feel free to explore the Lenten Journey at Cloaked Monk Blog

Lenten Journey- Day 12

Fervent prayer in obedience

Meekness in glory

Was the message Jesus lived

Maombi ya kweli na unyenyekevu

Raufu katika sifa

Ilikuwa ujumbe Yesu aliishi

Lenten Journey – Day 12; March 25th 2012

Biblical Scripture: Hebrews 5:5-10

Feel free to explore the Lenten Journey at Cloaked Monk Blog

Lenten Journey- Day 12

#1

We stand here, not as of right,

But as privileged souls

Made right before the Lord

Twasimama hapa, si kwa haki,

Bali kama waliobahatika

Waliofanywa sawa mbele ya Mungu

#2

What alight feeling

To know

Of the message of restoration?

Ni furaha iliyoje

Kutambua

Kuhusu ujumbe wa Uhuru?

Lenten Journey – Day 12; March 26th 2012

Biblical Scripture: 2 Corinthians 3:4-11

Feel free to explore the Lenten Journey at Cloaked Monk Blog

Lenten Journey- Day 12

#1

Pilgrim, may all prophesies come true

That your progeny

Shall be of prophets

Hija, twaomba unabii utimie

Twaomba kizazi chako

Kiwe cha manabii

#2

What sign, what manifestation

Will reveal

The earlier prophesies?

Ni dalili ipi

Itaonyesha

Unabii wa kale?

Lenten Journey – Day 12; March 27th 2012

Biblical Scripture: Acts 2:14-24

Feel free to explore the Lenten Journey at Cloaked Monk Blog

Lenten Journey- Day 12

#1

They questioned his mission—

Like the Scribes—

Unbeknownst to them who he was

Walitathmini lengo lake—

Kama Wanasheria—

Wasijue alikuwa nani

#2

The light of Truth

Will shine for a while

Twould be a pity if it is wasted

Nuru ya Ukweli

Utaangaza kwa muda

Sikitiko litatukia iwapo haya yatapotezwa

Lenten Journey – Day 12; March 28th 2012

Biblical Scripture: John 12:34-50

Feel free to explore the Lenten Journey at Cloaked Monk Blog

Lenten Journey- Day 12

#1

May we pilgrims,

Despite our frailties,

Live by piety

Twaomba sisi Hija,

Kando na udhaifu wetu

Tuishi kikristu

 #2

We are all humble slaves

Shackled in humility to Christ

Joyous in our state

Sisi sote ni watumwa wanyenyekevu

Tumejifunga katika unyenyekevu wa Kristu

Wenye furaha katika kila hali

Lenten Journey – Day 12; March 29th 2012

Biblical Scripture: Philippians 2:1-11

Feel free to explore the Lenten Journey at Cloaked Monk Blog

Lenten Journey- Day 12

#1

This I say to you, Pilgrims,

That you live without blemish

so that my death is not in vain

Hili nakujulisha Hija

Kwamba utaishi bila doa

Ili kifo changu kisiwe cha bure

#2

Do me a favour, pilgrim,

Though I be absent

Let what I lived dwell in you

Hija, naomba unifanyie hili

Japo sitakuwepo

Acha nilichoishi kidumu kwenu

Lenten Journey – Day 12; March 30th 2012

Biblical Scripture: Philippians 2:12-18

Feel free to explore the Lenten Journey at Cloaked Monk Blog

Lenten Journey- Day 12

#1

Kama Bartimayo mwana wa Timayo

Sisi sote ni vipofu

Hata hivyo, kinyume naye tumeridhika!

Like bartimaeus, son of Timaeus

We are all blind

But unlike him, we are content!

#2

Yastaajabisha jinsi Yesu

Alivyozungumza katika Nafsi ya Tatu

Hata katika kifo chake

Amazing how Jesus

Spoke in Third Person

Even at the point of death

Lenten Journey – Day 12; March 31^st 2012

Biblical Scripture: Mark 10:32-34, 46-52

Feel free to explore the Lenten Journey at Cloaked Monk Blog

Thou Earth Loosed!

The bowels of the earth loosed

Mutinied wrenches

Rebel gears 

The halted grind

Abyss underneath to hell

Soils that won't cover faults

The tectonic plates that are up in arms

Look upon us favourably,

Our feet treading on oblivion

What are our hands worth

Our nerves are blood

When metals crunch,

Even the genius winces

And for the well-meaning pilgrim

Fixing the earth

It is only a matter of time

Before the very soil he rests on

Will give way to the gaping earth 

In response to a prompt by the         Magpie Tales

My Mt. Kenya is up in Flames Tororot

This poem has been published at Eco Walk the Talk, Asia's Global Green Community which features eco-news, insights, living tips and people. I have been humbled twice now to be published in that wonderful forum of kind souls who have passion for the environment in its wide sense. Please visit the site, read their informative articles on what is going around. For the poem below, you could also access it in Eco Walk the Talk here


~




My Mt. Kenya is up in flames,Tororot,

The forest is being consumed--

the loss in billions, the pain immediate

My Mt. Kenya is up in flames, Tororot,

All my indigenous trees, the species, the ecosystem

All of them reduced to ashes

My Mt. Kenya is up in flames, Tororot,

Courageous souls have stepped up

Yet, the leaping flames are vengeful

I am here, watching the news

Watching good souls putting out the fire with tree branches

But the flames are also burning up my heart

I don't know what I would tell my children

Of how we lost Mt. Kenya

How will I say the fire consumed it for seven days?

I would look at space with pained expression

And say, "Son, Mt. Kenya burnt before me

That is how we lost her back in the year 2012"

Even before then, Tororot,

Just one wish: Please rain on Mt. Kenya

Please make life grow again

Even if some losses we might never regain.

********

It is a sad happening. For more than seven days now, fire has been consuming Mt. Kenya destroying billions-worth of trees and life. This is a serious tragedy.

This is how the disaster has been reported.

Citizen News

http://citizennews.co.ke/news/2012/local/item/1061-fire-in-mt-kenya 

The Star Newspaper

http://www.the-star.co.ke/national/national/67428-choppers-join-in-mt-kenya-forest-fire-fight 

The Standard Newspaper

http://www.standardmedia.co.ke/InsidePage.php?id=2000054471&cid=4 

A Song for My Pilgrim Daughter

To you, my daughter,

I always believed

That you will make me whole

The shattered pieces of me

Of yesterday’s falls;

Your soft hands will heal them

Your cry will sanitize them

To you, my daughter,

I always believed

That we would grow together

Learn when to sleep when you do

Accustom my tired eyes to your light

To you, my daughter,

I always believed

That I would be a hero

That you will not look at my faults

That my esteem will be in line with your faith

And as I hold you in my arms,

Your lightness is very deceptive

In many ways you are heavy with meaning

Your face does not carry sadness nor guilt

Your smile is pure, your laughter is divine

You don’t ask if my hands are dirty

You don’t cover your nose for the soot around

To you, my daughter,

I always believed

That I would make you all you want to be

To whisper to the stars

To eavesdrop the greatest secrets of the milky way

I could sell a few steps of my ladder

Build it upon yours so that you can reach the moon

It will delight me to see you rise

From below, I would be glad that you made it

To you, my daughter

I always believed

That you will be the Explorer of the Universe

To grow inwardly, outwardly

To learn everything, for all knowledge is good

Thus, having grown in wisdom, daughter,

I would be happy if you remain meek and humble

For there is nothing great as quiet wisdom

To you, my daughter,

I will share the secrets of the hills,

The echoes, the reverberations,

I would help you make small baby steps

As a little pilgrim

To you, my daughter,

I always believed

My sun would finally rise.