Sekyewa Godfrey

Plea to the Nile.

Hide me oh Nile
At the abyssal height of your feet
...

My Precious Nile.

I sing of the treasures of the Nile.
What a magnificent creature you are!
...

The Saints at Twilight

The dark claws of death downed upon them
Like tongs gripping a glowing coal.
...

One Life One Death.

Elly Tumwine,
Oh my fallen General.
...

The Bull Roars No More

Oh my patriotic General,
Of indubitable seniority.
...

Mosquito.

With excitement she comes dancing
Shaking her wrist in perambulation
...

Whispers of the Moon.

Daylight joyfully brags by
Scudding along the mute sky
...

Cruel Modernity

Dear country man,
Teach me the secret to the new life.
...

MEN IN MASKS

They come in tattered penury
And preached salvation to our desperate souls.
...

I Met a Woman

At the well,
I met a woman this morning.
...

Calm Down Father.

I have heard father,
The distant toll of church bells.
...

Upon That River.

By that Riverside,
I met her lonely and depressed,
...

Tears of Widowhood.

Alone in the vast wilderness
On a misty morning though
...

Weep Not Peasant.

The Scavengers have maliciously
Grabbed the flesh
...

REIGN OF THE GUNS
In our Motherland. Our good Pearl that guns grip
A jolly old tortoise sits at the pinnacle of power.
We the prey of his tyranny in silence weep
...

TYRANTS! LISTEN
You bloodthirsty megalomaniacs
Epitomes of modern day egomaniacs
Listen, this beloved nation is our sole jewel.
...

ABDUCTED

The men in masks surrounded him.
In drones with tinted glasses,
...

1986

The silence of the bush war gun
Birthed a new political terrain.
...

The gun is no friend.
His mouth is like a hyena's
ruthless jaws.
He smiles like a starved panther
...

If we be men,
why then fold our miserable faces
Like a baby crying for its mother's breast milk?
Why bow to a pack of eunuchs?
...