ON YOUR OWN...

 

Raped by thorns in dark ghostly caves…

Thirsty leaves blinded where shadows abound

Nude roots lifeless as sleeping waves

Take no heed and be rotten underground!

It’s time to kiss the light…on your own

Pregnant clouds entangled by love-chain…

Seduced by lightning’s romantic blinks and winks

Aroused heaven urinating streams of rain

Take no heed and be drenched to your brinks!

It’s time to rush in a hush……on your own!

 Wrinkled souls enslaved by erotic stings…

Skinless bodies drowning in pools of Sodom!

Pagan souls worshiping secrets of G-strings

Take no heed and be swallowed by a phantom!

 It’s time to make amends…on your own.

Coconut mothers fighting predatory winds…

Overweight nuts fallen   by bullet hailstones

Circumcised leaf-blades flapping fury wings

Take no heed and be smashed to the bones!

It’s time to take cover…on your own

 Derailed by lusts for a teenage toffee…

Marital vows locked in bedside bins

Illicit passions drank as instant coffee

Take no heed and lick all your sins!

It’s time to grow up…on your own

 

2014©Meshack Sewe 

Inspired after watching plants grow through 3-meter-tall steel tubes  that are part of our company fence...imagining the dark moments during their  upward struggle....ON THEIR OWN....until their shoots came out to embrace sunshine.

I REFUSE!

I refuse to be fed…

On tribal soups of jeers….. spiced with bitter herbs of sneers….

I refuse!

I refuse to be seduced…

By black lights of ethnic casinos…dancing to sarcastic songs of innuendos…

I refuse!

I refuse to be splashed…

With muddy waters of a tribal crater…dismissed as a non-human matter!

I refuse!

I refuse to be frozen….

By ice-cold waters from the Mountain…..sealing my every breathing fountain...

I refuse!

I refuse to be pricked…

By sharp fish-bones from the Lake…. Drugging my feet with chronic ache...

I refuse!

I refuse to munch…

Sandy sea-shells from the Coastal beach…baked in tongues slippery as leech...

I refuse!

I refuse to be crashed….

By fattened bulls from the Western…. left  buried in smoldering soils of North Eastern…

I refuse!

I refuse to be stabbed…..

By poisoned arrows of the Turkana…or left to die in thickets of Delta Tana

I refuse!

I refuse to give up…

My Integrity, identity or devotion to Allah…..for cheap political “Masala”

I refuse!

No…I refuse to spread...maggot-fed ethnicity!

Nimekataa….katakata!

Nimekataa kunaswa…… kunyanyaswa….kubaguliwa!

I agree...

To fight for diversity..

For the sake of humanity!

I refuse...to do nothing..

2013©Meshack Sewe

“Nimekataa katakata” A Kiswahili expression meaning I totally disagree

“Kunaswa”-a Kiswahili word meaning to be trapped

“Kunyanyaswa”-A Kiswahili word meaning to be mistreated

“Kubaguliwa”-A Kiswahili word meaning to be discriminated against.
"Allah"-Refers to God in Islam.

“Masala” –A Kiswahili word for a popular spice

Wrote this poem after I heard a youth from one Kenyan tribe referring to those from a different tribe as dogs…it broke my heart....ooh yes it did! It made me realize how we, and our leaders have failed to fight negative ethnicity.

 Photo Source: www.cedarridge.cc

...WHERE IS DAWN?!

Once tickled as a naturalist holding a crustacean…

Now paralyzed as twigs in ruins of Caesarean!
...Just where is dawn ?!

Once sneering at the Sea as stone buildings in Jerusalem

Now blinded by mixed faiths as clouds above Bethlehem

...Just where is dawn ?!

Once sprinting uphill as stone-paths in Jaffa

Now tattooed with rust as old quarries in Haifa!
 ...Just where is dawn ?!

Once soaked in splendor as gardens of Bahai

Now famished underneath as bones of Tel-hai…
 ...Just where is dawn ?!

Once laughing undercover as a tailor’s bobbin!

Now mute and legless as statue of Rabin!

...Just where is dawn ?!

Once boiling with tales as a Jewish mariner

Now frozen in pain as a broken recliner

...Just where is dawn ?!

Once bleeding with joy as Israeli rockets!

Now clotting in the cold as charred sockets!
 ...Just where...Just where...Just where  is dawn ?!
2012©Meshack Sewe

Inspired after touring various historical sites in Israel (Haifa, Telaviv, Bahai Gardens, Jerusalem,Jafa, and Caesarean); a large paintwork of a sitting-sleeping man in a Telaviv Hotel where we  stayed (Medina Hotel), and the dark moments I was going through during those days....as any  normal man…..copyright does not include the photo. 

HAIRS WILL GREY...

Tarmac road feeds on torture….as wheels harvest life’s highway mileage

Opposing wind wheezes in pain…pedals pressed to chase mirage

Slow-down sign posts thrown into pits…destination lyrics sang in haste

Tortoise sermons pass by unheard…inflated egos with patience as waste

Safety belts endure rough escapades…pedestrians greeted with fumes backward

At last!  A long drive comes to a halt…no flames of zeal to move forward

Tubeless tires embrace deflation…traffic jam ignites frustration

Pleasure-baked urgencies die off…diluted by dusk’s burning exhaustion

Sleep-fed night sighs… relieved of   darkness labor pain

Sweet baby Sun is born …warmly received as summer rain

Slumber land joys drowned… by courtship kisses of day-time deals

Pregnant sweat streams burst…toilers' nails hunt for daily meals

Youthful teeth laugh at the old… drunk of temporary daylight thrust

At last! A tired day retires…all bones soaked in wools of rust

Life-combed hairs surrender their glow…dressed in uniforms all grey

Green grasses doze off…turned to dead dry heaps of hay!

Queen of olive skin to live and die for...flamboyantly natural as tropical garden

Alluring scent leaving senses paralyzed…true rainbow colours of a proud maiden

Flamingo legs with feathers to match…sky is the limit with life at its peak

Packages exposed for eyes to devor…ripe fruits pricked when currencies speak

Motherhood dreams roasted alive…bed time stories with strange subscribers

At last! Olive skin dries…no more Networks from Service Providers!

Wardrobe mirror stares in pain…no wrinkled hand to sooth an aging face

Perfume bottles all turned antique…no fruits of love to hold and embrace.

  
2011©Meshack Sewe

Tik! Tok! Tik! Tok!!..Our speedy and carefree lifestyle not withstanding....our hairs will slowly and surely grey....and we shall be humbled..

TOO LATE...

Drugged zombies…haunted by stained compassion… and passion

Licking black blood… of illusion… and confusion

Reciting dead prayers…both symbolic… and hyperbolic!

Dancing in toxins…all ionic… and chronic!

But now…it’s too late…all sanity gone… foregone!

Cockroaches on heat…in dark love “spark”

Scampering for cover…from light each night

Cramped in cracks…no space for race

Dreaming of morsels…in bins of sins!

But now…it’s too late… all guilt drank… sank!

 

Champion stallion…amused by a colt’s revolt

Trotting in leisure...laughing at filly’s willy

Pacing down-slope…as a rider’s strider

Galloping away… from a mare’s stare

But now…it’s too late…all hooves torn… worn!

Sweet Katrina gone insane…now a hurricane!

Carefree agitations….as night time  erections!

Married to Sarus cranes…mating in murky lanes

Leaking nest unthatched…cursed eggs unhatched

But now…it’s too late…all wings broken…heartbroken!

2011©Meshack Sewe
hmmm....in life,when our wicked ways,  secret schemes,  or  shameless pride take us too far ,  too far to appreciate others for their worthiness...too far to recover all those we have lost...a time comes  for paying the full price...when it's  TOO LATE ...so, beware!...before it's too late!...
 

SHATTERED GLASS...

Green-eyed darkness swallows my thirsty sight

Walls in vain I beseech… for an escape site

Solemn prayers I murmur… answered by echoes of light

My glass… smiles with hope…dressed in rays so bright

In relief I soar… as a desert kite

Free at last… free at last… from gloom’s fury  bite

But now… my glass is shattered…I ‘m  a homeless mite!

Untamed lightening winks…its sharp voice astounds

My glass… parries all fears…gobbling deafening sounds

A murderous spider crawls … away from soaked mounds

My glass… oils its path……destination reversed to grounds!

Glutton vampire …on my trails…with pangs of bloodhounds

My glass… blocks all my scents…external stiffing never counts

But now… my glass… is shattered…I ‘m trapped where risk abounds!

A great paradox…my eyes see not my face!

My mirror… how loyal...defines me with grace…

Forward sings my vision…undressing contents of lace!

My glass… back-spies…keen on dangers to trace

A tired foot curses… in pain…too tortured to keep pace

My glass… magnifies my strength…keeping me in the race

But now… my glass… is shattered…I’m drowning in mucky disgrace!

2011©Meshack Sewe

Hmmm...our lives are full of "glasses".....which often get shattered......leaving us in tatters!

BLEEDING KNEES...

On shy chameleon legs….I ones came…

Before thee, a heartless flame!

From a muttering tongue…my pleas oozed…

But…alas!.. your ears had long dozed!

Bundles of sin…to confess I hold

Drunk of my fill…of every cold scold

Will you let go….as now I plead?

Shall I be dismissed-a millipede ‘playing dead’?!

On my bleeding knees I now crawl…

Thirsty for  relief….not a suicide brawl…

Your feathered scalp…I ones explored…

Surrendering each strand….how you implored!

Sipping our wines…of joy and delight…

But, alas! …lightening struck…with blessings of blight!

Bitter fumes condensed….stripping your haggard breath!

Emotions executed…. torn heart cursing to death!

Will you let go…..as now I scream…?

Shall I be tossed- a dry leaf on stream?!

On my bleeding knees I now burn!

Offering my ashes….ready for about-turn…

2011©Meshack Sewe

Hmmm....a personal reflection....on how sometimes we feel overburdened by our own  emotional loads....and crave for relief... by swallowing our pride....owning up....and saying "I'm sorry, please forgive me"