Kwa nini mwanilaumu na roho kampenda yeye? Kwa nini mwanishtumu na macho kajichagulia? Si haki kabisa. Mimi mwenyewe nishaamua na moyoni ashaingia. Niacheni niringe naye. Ikiwa penzi ni wazimu jamani niacheni niugue. Hata mkinidhalilisha; sitotengana na aliyenipenda. Niacheni nitambe na niliyetunukiwa. Katu sitaachana naye, kwa sababu moyo kamteua.
I remember when you were a rose;
ruffled then the feathers became;
under the weather you slowly cruised;
the sunshine faded;
and the flower withered.
Life hit hard; it lied, played games,
brought regrettable connections,
and distorted the truth.
You’ve seen and done it all,
you hurt deep and you wept.
Walisema penzi letu
mwishowe litopunguka.
Walisema jua letu litazama
na giza itatanda.
Walisema rohoni utanitoka.
Walisema penzi letu litafifia,
libaki mazoea.
Waongo hao.
Waongo hawajapata
kuvutiwa na penzi.
Waongo hawajapata
kuridhishwa na penzi.
Why did you do this last night?
It’s hurting me and I can’t forget.
Why must you risk your life so?
You allowed her, and that’s a fact.
As I watched, she massaged
your bare skin,
severally kissed you tenderly,
and even suckled.
To make matters worse,
she most probably even infected you.
On the one hand, in sympathy and empathy,
they seek to save life and heal the world;
by lending a helping hand,
give hope, and make the day
brighter for people facing
life-threatening natural calamities.
On the other hand, in rage,
they brand the others as terrorists, jihad,
neo-nazis or inferior race, then rain bombs,
destruction and anguish, having no qualms
whether they shed the innocent blood
of children and the defenseless.
These scars that I proudly carry
across my body, mind, heart, and soul
are my scars.
The scars are me;
they are who I am;
and I am not ashamed of them.
They are a vivid reminder of
how life has treated me
and tried to break me;
but I overcame.
Jeremiah 18 – Holy Bible
He meticulously takes the clay and its dust,
adds the other ingredients of the recipe
that only He knows;
uses His mighty hands
to mix them thoroughly together,
and creates (wo)man in His own image;
yet none is like the other.
He painstakingly adds water
to the clay mixture a little at a time
so that it becomes neither too wet nor too dry
and stirs the mixture until it sticks together,
to create twins who are identical,
but each unique in its own way.
On the road that lies before you,
there will be twists and turns.
Sometimes the seas
will become rough to sail on.
You may fall,
love might flee, and
friends may leave too.
Words may be spoken in anger;
words that tear your world apart.
You may sit there feeling sorry for yourself.
No matter how dark and gloomy
the situation may seem,
do not give up hope.
Try to re-discover your strength.
Like the sun, you too
can rise from the darkness
and shine your light again.
On a hot, sunny day, a boy is born.
Soon thereafter, just like in the past,
daddy leaves.
Mum has to feed yet another hungry mouth.
Mum has to raise the boy,
alone.
Mum has no means,
no resources as the boy grows up,
she needs a helping hand;
but who will offer it?
The world turns its head,
and looks the other way
from the hungry boy, but he blossoms.
The boy becomes a teenager;
he needs a male mentor
to show him how to maneuver through life,
to show him the ways of responsible men,
But the world turns back
from the hungry boy.
Dear son, dear daughter,
I gave you life,
but I cannot live it for you.
Do not spend it
at the mercy of grief and self loathe,
but sit on the lawn, gazing proudly at the moon
and belch out loudly, saying “I’ll live my life,
in such a way that will make my father proud.”
Dear daughter, dear son,
I can teach you many things,
but I cannot make you learn.
Your fate is intact so far,
it is not cracked yet.
Do not let your dreams
flow into leaking jars;
but just like stars,
learn to speak your truth quietly,
and shine in silence;
learn to dream big,
in a world that is unjust and unfair.