The Empty Village Poem by DEDAN ONYANGO

Old men and women,
Motherless and Fatherless war torn youngsters
We greet you in peace!
In our childish life we want to narrate the ordeal
That has just baffled us,
Of the once full but now empty village that scavengers patrol in majesty
Of the empty village that now speaks of lives squeezed
By neighbours who once lived nearby
But now graves scribbled with mad, REST IN PEACE!
Or is it REVENGE IN PEACE!
Scattered all over the loamy soil protrude.

Once upon a time,
Before the village of Mapendo turned to be the village of hatred,
Once upon a time
Before the village of Amani evolved to be the village of war!
Peace and Tranquility engulfed the atmosphere,
Ants, birds and lizards were seen here and there
Now you can hardly spot one
In their hideouts we have forced them
As we shoot down each other with tribal hate
"They are not of this place! "
We say in haste.
And quickly we set their huts in a blaze
As the village elders sets the trail
Once neighbours now entangled in foe ship
We forget that we are all in this ship
Our cordial relationship now erased
Akin to goats we forget to coexist.

Children we learn from our fathers
Once they were friends,
Our society now drums in our innocent mind
That don't mind them.
They are our enemies!
Why only during the election periods?
Only yesterday
Mother borrowed salt from Mama Johnny
Now we are set to burn them alive
Just because they hold on to a different story.


On cameras we pretend
That love is what we intend
Yet in our tribal cocoons we hide our claws.
The empty village is full of crosses
The empty village is full of rottenness
The empty village wobbles,
Yet we the young ones
Have been given the mantle to carry on with the battle:
In our schools now we practice
What we saw in the society
Where our leaders lack sobriety
The empty village is now nasty!

In homes we fasten our crude weapons.
We work together
Yet our goals are set apart
We target the heart,
With our bows and arrows
We narrow down to the bone marrow
Forgetting tomorrow we shall need to borrow sugar.
Children learn from their mothers,
In the market place
We smile yet deep inside we swine
The future now leaks!
The umbilical is gagged
The void wideness,
Yet we learn not from our sins.

We shall have to rebuild the villages
From ridge to ridge,
We say no to political divisions!
We say no to tribal wars!
We say no to hate speech!
We say no corruption!
We must enact a new caption
Of a village full of peace, love and Unity.

Children of this nation
Go and do the necessary
Correct the bad ordeal
Make haste and salvage the next generation!