Canaan; A Dream Deferred? ! Poem by Wafula p'Khisa

our ship had already anchored ashore
awaiting orders from the captain
to sail across the great sea, into gentle hands
of angels, gladly waiting at heavensgate.

but, pharaoh's generals swung fast, wielding tools of death
clipped our lead stars, and plunged us into darkness
captain desperately cried, like a stranded whale-left in the cold
by his crew; fleeing the oath...

the sand under our feet ran; our knees sagged & kissed the weeping ground:
afraid of extreme heat of another futile struggle
they had disabled chebukati's organs & amputated the most dreaded watchdogs
to howl like hungry wolves, in tandem with despotic tunes
crushing dissent voices, thirsting for sunlight!

we're pulled from the fertile breast of dreams, and squeezed into jubilee's bruising yoke
to carry the swelling national debt & nurse ugly wounds
of marginalization, impunity & theoretical progress
for seasons of reigning thunder, fire & blood.