Thirst Poem by DEDAN ONYANGO

Dawn is breaking,
Soon the malicious sun will greet the barren land.
Quick we move,
Heading to the North
Perhaps there is pasture
And life to quench our thirst.
As our shriveled bellies talk in thunderous voices.

Little souls cry
On our mothers backs with hopes of a suck.
Only to be welcomed by floppy flesh lost on flavor
Dangling lazily on our mothers chest,
A picture that no longer attracts the zest on my father’s loins.

We must quench our thirst!

We must!
Another frail voice sighs,
We stare and glare at him
No sign for this word H-O-P-E
But just a cloud of empty cirrus clouds crossing on with despair.

Down the ill-road
A pond of water appears
But miraculously it disappears.
Mockery of nature; my granny weighs in.
Her skin,
Competing with Sahara for Dryness
But she still…
Limps ahead.

We move.
We limp…
We drag on.
Our muscles begging for mercy
As we lift our long- bony legs
Only one stride we make.
We must quench our thirst!
No matter the dusk
Hope I speak.

What happened to the dam ‘Mheshimiwa’ was to construct?
Who dare ask such a destructive question?
Whose answer is even known by the coming generation?

It has been decades of waiting
Our bodies are no longer sweating.
We have learnt to survive
No need of us pretending,
Deaths clouds our malnourished grounds
We are too glad to be the only ones alive,
We must move to quench our thirst!

Our spirit urges
“Keep moving”
Our destination is nigh.
Oh!
We were headed to the North
But here also
Life is but absent.
Oh!
We are thirsty.
Our loop of henle is now rusty
We must move!
A dry tear escapes my eye
But to where!
We are accustomed to death, my dying
Granny sighs on her last breathe.


*Mheshimiwa: Honorable member of parliament.