Love Lures
The relentless roaring rains rumbled in a storm
Clattering cans, and casting confusion, confounding…
Till the raised remorseful rainbow rescinded the rain
Cassandra’s curls cascaded, caressing the calm, my arm
Touching, temperance tempting, timely, typical, true
Luring of lost luscious love lingered likely
Silhouettes of surreal sunrays surmount
Upon meretricious mellow meadows, miles on
As hanging heavens, hallow the hilly horizon
Silent Rage
I can almost touch the horror
Hanging over your hospital bed
From where I stand rage chokes my composure
I can see your tender terrorized innocence
Your tormented virgin soul
Your confounded conscience
And your blistered esteem…
Your ordeal eludes my understanding
And I seem not to reason why…
Why your predicament could not be averted
Yet you tried to say it in word and manner
But you were ignored because you were just a child
And children can say some outrageous things…
Like feigning defilement by a kin or a neighbour
They shut you up child but I will speak on your behalf
Till these ogres are hanged on the nearest lamp post
Odyssey Obscured
Once upon an era
In my motherland somewhere in east Africa
The clouds of independence gathered
And we all expected the rains of freedom
Rains of prosperity in self governance
To fulfil our hopes and aspirations
But when the rains fell upon our land
It poured not water to quench our thirsts
But cockerels and more cockerels from above
Woe the cockerels reined over us for more than four decades
And the land was flooded with cocks; dead and alive
Everywhere it was “Kuna Nuka”; rotten
Until one day we saw a rainbow
Silhouetted against the livid sky
And the cockerels’ reign came to a halt...
Hallelujah, the Rainbow became our new hope
Towards the elusive prosperity and freedom
Its wore a spectrum of 42 different shades; a spectacle
Arced to blend in its seven hues
On stopped the rain and rot; the “Nuka” reign
But wait....we were wrong
The colours of the rainbow were quickly fading
Obscuring our vision from the skies again
In a moment the rainbow was split apart in two
And splinters of colours fell down from the heavens
Bringing with it a swoop of darkness upon the land
And the rainbow was gone; the promise undone
Soon it was raining again
It was raining oranges and bananas this time
People ran all over picking oranges, others bananas
Our hopes were reborn, revived by orange juice and banana puddings
People were at liberty to make choices; bragging democracy
But nay...we were wrong again
Because soon everyone was in disarray
Over a stolen choice of the people
No one could tell how many ate bananas or oranges
Out on the roads came a vicious diarrhoea of emotions
And all the rot we concealed revealed itself again
In its most potent pungent odour
Wagangas, witchdoctors and local herbalists came to the rescue
But none could stop the orange-banana diarrhoea
We had to call for sangomas and doctors from lands beyond the seven rivers
And the nine hills away
To come over to the cure
They prescribed a concoction of oranges and bananas
Mixed with some bitter wild fruits and leaves
Into a bitter sweet concoction
A sour coalition
To stop this diarrhoea whose smell was becoming a nag to good neighbours
Alas, by and by our leaders were feeling better
And were quickly back to the juices and puddings
Even though our stomach ulcers were still sore
They knew we now had the concoction to sip
And so they continued to drinking the orange juices
And devour the banana puddings in the cover of darkness
So that no one would witness their backslide
As we foot soldiers languished in poverty and hunger
Still carrying on our heavy undying hopes and aspirations
Away from the clouds and the skies though this time
From where fell all our false promises
But across the desert towards the horizon where mirages reign
Mirages that don’t fall to hit our balding heads from high
But beckon us on to a visible lake of hope in their recession
A receding lake that keeps us trudging on and on
God knows to where, time knows when...
FB Omondi Otieno was born in the Kakamenga District of Western Province in Kenya. He is currently pursuing an MBA in Finance at the University of Nairobi. He currently works for CARE International managing grants under the Global Fund Program for HIV/AIDS Prevention
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