The Shi Fire Burnt Me Poem by Joseph Cimanuka

I went to fetch fire from Walungu,
To warm my body, my house, and light my life;
Yet this fire was a woman—a living flame,
Not the fire bestowed through dowry in Kaziba,
But a fire that devoured souls, bodies, and homes.

It burned my inner hearth to cold ashes,
And left my house a skeleton of smoke.
The smell of charred timber lingered in my throat,
While the earth beneath me darkened like a blackened pan.

I was ignorant,
Reading the world through cracked lenses,
Mistaking destruction for warmth,
And desire for enduring light.

Now I stand in an ashen land,
Among the ruins of what I once called home;
Stooping low to gather scattered pieces,
Digging through ash to plant new roots,
Mending broken walls with dust and resolve.

For fire has two tongues:
One that warms the hands,
And one that consumes the heart.

I learned too late
That beauty alone cannot sustain a life;
A flame that dazzles the eyes
May leave the soul without shelter.

Yet from these ashes I rise,
Carrying the scars of the burn,
Building again,
Stone by stone,
Hope by hope.


Joseph Cimanuka all rights reserved