Abandoned African Statehouse Poem by Kimani wa Mumbi

He was a big man, says the size of his perimeter
and watch-out towers around his compound;
A scared man too, say his armoured vehicles
in a strongroom nearby; and not God-fearing,
say the Bibles rarely opened
in every bookcase of this citadel, smelling of print;
but not a man of the people, says the jewellery
cluttered with rocks and shiny metal.

Women lived with him, sometimes, say the photos
in his safes and, some yellowing with age
and some very young mistresses your kid's age-
not surprising he had no children.
Money here was more than could be spent
While millions of his subjects starved to death,
Wealth too was amassed in large quantities.
But 'twasn't happy here, says the gloomy surrounding.

Something went wrong, says the empty house
and the bullet riddled walls. Debris outside
say it was a coup; done the African way,
and the gloomy environs of this stately house.
He must have left in a nervous haste,
says the fact that he wasn't killed.
What do you expect when you rule for decades,
and your country's a mess? Something went wrong, for sure.