Kimani wa Mumbi

This is a parody of Henry Barlow's 'Building the Nation'.

Like always I have done a lot
In building our nation.
...

See, two roads might diverge in any wood,
And sorry you cannot travel both
...

I will not mourn my father's death
I won't even be struck by his death.
I will not contribute a coin to buy his coffin,
Or for the funeral which I won't even attend.
...

Close that door, son
For I am old and my bones are weak.
I've seen 89 under the sun
Journey's been long burning up my wick.
...

Tell me my leaders
How low shall you stoop?
Humiliate me like a homeless man
As if to you I was nothing!
...

I wonder what she was thinking
When she decided she'd be leaving.
Did she compare the pros and cons
And the cons indeed won?
...

Walking in rural Africa
I saw an unfinished mud hut.
I laughed softly.
Question myself I couldn't resist:
...

O Uganda! I miss you.
I miss you and your sweet bananas.
I miss your matooke and the beautiful nyabos.
I miss your beautiful capital and its dirty ghetto
...

Your hair is dirty, good sir -
Said an innocent child to me one day.
I have what they call African hair,
A natural nappy head.
...

'Twas the most romantic,
'Twas the shortest lasting,
Like a hen lays an egg,
Like a cloth holds to a rotting peg.
...

Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?
No. Summers in Africa are hot as hell:
Rough dusty winds our thatched huts shake
While heaven's bloodshot eye on boiling our brains concentrates;
...

For May:

A rare metal – hard to find –
You're worth more than all gold there is.
...

Four and six make ten
'Fore I'm sick I'll make my tea.
'Fore I'm weak I'll make you sing.
'Fore I'm dead you'll see my thing.
...

Be not proud
The world's round
Days get long
Missy Joan
...

For May

Sitting in the trees
Reminds me
...

For Mary

Distance separates me and you,
yet your love lingers like the morning dew.
...

May

I watch the candle drip and
with every dropp I
...

Pa looks at the newspaper
I flip the pages of my novel,
No one is reading a thing.
A minute later he flips the channels
...

I'm weak
Haven't spoken to anyone a week.
Of suicide I contemplate
My body, energy won't generate.
...

My stepfather, in his wisdom
Claimed that though he had tried,
He had totally failed to see the difference
Between myself and any cow.
...