Son-Malnutritioned Gusii Family Poem by David N. Munene

Was born first
Girls; both second and last
Village in Gusii gave us thumbs down
We were the talk of Nyamira town

“Dear Nyasuguta (neighbour) , lend us salt”
“Oh ye of sterility never to borrow halt”
Protest I: “We are not of sterility in our clan”
“Family without son, is Earth minus sun”

“You cannot play with us? ”
“And why? Your family bears a curse! ”
“Boi (playmate) please we are equals…”
“Huh! Without heir, family vanishes on a few funerals”

Stigmatized, almost hated mama
For not bearing a brother
More so our father
For men who trampled his authority with a hammer

Mama taken for barren
For lack of son
Stressed and distressed, papa passed on
Mama with pregnancy to carry on

Mama: “Symbols of love, children are”
She couldn’t put her husband in a car
We had not match, but torn uniform
We waded through the Gusiiland storm

Mama: “At last like Elizabeth – a son”
The disgrace became the Gusii Sun
Studied we before he became man
We employed; him head of clan