Lend Us Your Strength Forefathers! Poem by Merlin Mwaura

I woke up this morning,
Instead of the good life,
Sweet scent of a woman,
I smelt a rat, something was amiss.
Mheshimiwa suggested a pay rise,
A million pay rise,
While a million paralyse
By hunger,
By anger…
At yet another utterance of their idiocy
I’d rather watch Churchill live,
Laugh at humorous comedy.

I have managed to puke into yet another bucket
I got bucket loads,
Disgusted by their girths,
The countries guzzlers are owned by these,
Perpetual masses dispensing their seeds,
Of impunity,
Corruption!
I’d pay to have Dedan rise from the grave,
Mekatilili spread some Juju,
Because am fed up by delinquent egoism,
Lead to a destruction which is impudent.

Lend us your strength forefathers,
We are starting am movement,
Twist our knowledge into dreadlocks,
The sweat and stain of life,
Shall ooze off of us,
We shall be menacing and precise,
We shall shake this masses like the colonials.
Give us strength forefathers,
Another devil has come,
He basks in pride and joy of power,
Teach them we are no dogs,
And if they treat such,
We shall bark and bite,
Creep through the night with truth,
Through the day like wild fire,
Till the wind feeds our message,
The tyranny needs to stop.
Forefathers running through our African names,
Inherited traits and fame…
We shall dance in the savannah,
Campus corridors and urban streets.
Right where Kimathi points,
The centre of Kenyan freedom,
Like a statue on his street!