Mariam de Haan Poems

That fusion of spices
Lemon grass, what I know as mchaichai
And ginger.
Makes me travel,
...

For those days I yearn
When we did not count what we earn.
When our homes were on our backs
And our family was our pack.
...

I know a land that was built on genocide.
Where the people close their eyes,
And choose to believe their government's lies.
...

She sit and stares
At the blank white wall.
Slowly but surely a face appears,
A smile and brown eyes in between two ears.
...

How much have these pillars seen?
As you brush your fingers on the mermer.
Can you hear them mutter?
The sermons of the Byzantine empire,
...

The more her mind wanders
The more she cries.
Thinking of an imaginary future,
That's built on lies.
...

Jamani leo nimeamua
Kuandika wangu husia
Kuhusu langu ziwa
Linaloitwa Pemba.
...

My lecturers say it.
My classmates say it.
My friends, family, people on the street
All say Third World.
...

Between the foggy mist of the mind
Away from the secrets that you hide
There lies a land.
Where lollipops are trees
...

Aladdin had a genie.
Cinderella had a fairy.
When Beast became a prince
Then he could be with Beauty.
...