From Mazagon docks
On Bombay's shores
He sailed to Mombasa
Overland to Kampala
From one colonial hub
To the Pearl of Africa
The source of the Nile
The end of the railway
Moved by imperialism
In service of His Majesty
Using accounting skills
He toiled diligently
Empire worked efficiently
Extracting wealth quietly
Using agency of his ilk
Dividing and ruling
A good learner was he
Risk taker: entrepreneur
Started trading; thrived
Built a house; believed
The clock was ticking
World War 2, tolled
"Independence" came
He retired to Marna
Watched from afar
As it came apart
Protectorate to confusion
Kabaka and Prime Minister
He passed at repast
With grandchildren
It was no jest; gone
At rest in the village
His manses to decay
Wealth to scatter
Descendants aplenty
None like him
I was born in a landlocked getaway town
Where all the colors were black, gray, or brown.
Jobs at the steel mill were ratcheting down.
It was not in my future to stay.
So, I took a long walk off a very short pier,
An unschooled, untraveled recruit buccaneer
On a quest to cross Neptune’s vast salty frontier.
Hopped a slow boat to China one day.
Underway on the Crescent City, it seemed
The ocean was wider than I’d ever dreamed.
A ship load of sinners, our souls unredeemed
Steaming west toward whatever there was.
Keelung told Hong Kong to call Singapore.
Subic Bay badgered Mombasa for more.
Sea legs, as always unsteady ashore,
Even more so with liquor and drugs.
Bilge water sloshed in the depths of the hold.
The mizzen mast learned what the typhoon foretold.
I was sea duty tempered and Shell Back enrolled;
Wasn’t nothing but maritime norm.
I was born in a hard luck blue collar town.
Half the way broken and half the way down.
But time gifts its renaissance scepter and crown
To a jack tar who’s weathered the storm.
I’ve heard tell of some suicide cult in Kenya;
Poor folk pledged to starve themselves to death
For God’s glory, and so malevolent surgeons
Can harvest their organs for profit in trade.
Well, I’ve been to Kenya, and I can say this:
Mombasa seemed quite exotic with its
Sculpted elephant tusk archway granting
Unfettered access to the Year of the Cat.
The open road to Nairobi was a safari adventure in itself,
Needing no explanation other than a quarter pound
Of the finest black Afghan hashish this side of Kandahar.
While in Kenya, I never once thought of killing myself.
But I did determine that it would be unsafe
To pass out drunk in any public venue
For fear of waking up with a pain in my side
And find I’m missing one of my kidneys. Kenya, dig it.
I was born and raised in this beautiful town
Where the smiles are warm from morning
And even warmer in the evening
Cause we live like one big family
I know the streets by heart
Waking up to the Muslim call
And going to sleep after the evening call
I love how the sweet breeze leisurely blows over the town
To cool of its people who are going about their day
For it's a city with many cultures it doesn't sleep
It's even lively and teaming with life
The ocean got a way of calling unto you
To go out and have a nice swim
Or just to walk by the sandy shores
Where the softness beneath the feet make you want to sink in
Nyali bridge has a way of taking you aback
A show of just how Mombasa is a paradise floating
It's like Vienna on rocks, palm trees and mangrove
A testament of what Mombasa can live upto as a coastal town
I was born and raised in this beautiful town
I'm Mombasa and my heart beats for it
That's why I want to work for it
And raise my family here while at it
The PO£T
My taste buds can't seem to shake
Off the sweet tastes of the towns food
It takes me back to the holy month of Ramadhan
When they'll be various vendors selling food
I loved how people would buy together
Everyone buying and piling it in one sinia
And they'd all eat as one
Even the one who doesn't have gets to enjoy
Cause food has a way of bringing together people
To start off a day after fasting, one takes dates
Accompanied with sweet strong coffee
And something savoury that doesn't overpower the tongue
Cause all this mix of fun goes on one palate
My taste buds still recall how they were lively
Awakened in the shores of Mombasa
When I ate prawns and una
It's like I've missed out on all this my whole life
It's no surprise why I'd want to marry from coast
Cause I'm charmed by the great foods they have to offer
And a great home starts off with great food
So that guests keep coming wanting more
The PO£T
The town painted in white and blue
Beneath the blue skies that watch on
At its beauty for its white beaches
And marvelous scenery by the water
If I'd pick a destination for the holiday,
Definitely it would find me in Mombasa
Sitting quietly at the shores
With my feet dipped into the sand
I'd go out for swims on very hot afternoons
Or just go for a walk along Mama Ngina drive
Just to immerse myself in the beauty that's Mombasa
As I take all the beauty in eating crisps
I'd want to reach through it's old town
Walk those streets and trace my way through history
As I touch the architecture that was and still exists
Proof of how it's beauty is aging like fine wine
I'd want to rush down the slopy side by the ferry
And flock into the ferry in the masses
And maybe just go for several rounds on it
Till I'm dizzy from being surrounded with all that water
The white and blue city
Floating by the shores
As its beauty is seen by all ships
That see it and chose to stop by
The PO£T
Let us go, hahaa!
Let us resist, hahaa!
Let them go, hahaa!
They must quilt, hahaa!
In the streets of Kisumu, uuwii!
In the corridors of the Capital,uuwii!
In Bungoma and Kisii, Uuwii!
Mombasa in the city, uuwii!
Beautiful white sands welcome my feet
into the ocean, with their soft, wet, coarse
sensation. The ocean is warm and cool
at the same time. It tempts me to stay
longer without uttering a word. Its
temptation, I swear it, is stronger
than girls in bikinis, who want to have fun.
The Mombasa people too tempt you to stay;
they call you "brother", "sister," "son",
"daughter".....though you are a stranger.
They smile at you without any scorn,
slyness, or expecting anything in return.
Their smile is natural and innocent.
They serve you a cup of tea
without asking for it,
and offer you a seat. They ask about
your journey, home and destination. You feel
as though you had met in a past life.
"You have met God!" people tell me
when I return to the city.
"I found Him in Mombasa," comes my response.
MOMBASA
Full moon uneasiness
Veranda dining, seven course style,
One day after my thirty sixth birthday,
I dine alone, in a poem.
Waiting for the Moon to pass to wane
and contemplate for Zanzibar, in vain. . .
MARATHON
Leawa Downs Marathon
Elevation 6000ft.
Elephants graze in the foreground
Campers camp, Samburu chant
Hyena’s WHoop Whoop whoop
5 A.M. Army alarm wake-up
The brown dust rises
and runners move in
Fluid motion
In the African Day
Building a Country Together
Blowing in the wind . . .
MASI MARA
Descending into the Rift Valley
Baby nephew Dylan sings along
to the Beatles. Masi heard their cattle in
Red blankets and colored beads.
Sitting under the tree of knowledge,
Different universes under one sky.
MASI RAIN
The pounding rain of the Mara
Post safari, I sit in my tented camp
Five Star style and naked.
Rain Dancing on canvas:
Rain Song of Hyena Laughing,
Hippo bellowing,
The baritone of the Wildebeest,
The tree Frogs low hiccup.
I will shower in the hot rainwater
for eternity
Sit on the Queen bed of honeymooners
And wish you were here.
Whoever you are. . .
She passed me, I thought, on a moped
Clad in a Muslim garb and covered face
Leaving behind the flavour of a smile
And hurried on towards an edifice ahead
I watched in awe and wished I had seen more
Then as she approached the edifice
The foreground turned into a lawn
Upon which she trod ever so serenely
Her garb unfolding into a bride’s train
That stretched a hundred feet behind
But she turned not and I saw naught
Of the beautiful nymph of Mombasa.
I'm yours forever or till the day
that i die,
Would ice in a freezer ever dry?
The same way to you i'd never
lie,
Don't doubt that i'll never say
bye,
Until fate decides, lets stay
fly. ;-)
To think of leaving you i just
can't try
Cause i don' wanna be the
cause of your painful cry.
You're my hallelujah, its in you
that i rely,
Even if it means that all odds i
defy,
I will for your sake so that we
can take our love high.
I hope that one time a knot
we'll tie,
I know haters gon' talk,
wanting to ask why
I chose you to be mine.
But not to worry, my mind's
straight like a line,
I hope yours is too, 'cause
everything'll be just fine,
So lets celebrate 'Cause its a
happy ending,
thats our sign.
I love Africa, my beautiful Africa
I can roam in the bushes
I can run up the mountains
Down the valleys
Across the plains
Or get lost in the forests
Or the caves
I can soak the sun
On the sand at the beach
Or bake in the desert sun
Until I should find an oasis
I can stand on the top of Mt. Kilimanjaro
And if that is too tall
I can try the difficult Mt. Kenya
And touch the floating cloud
I can swim in the ocean or in the lake
Or in the dam or pond or paddle
I can also swim in the Nile or the Congo
Or the Niger or the Zambezi or the Limpopo
Or a thousand other rivers
I can catch kamongo in Lake Victoria
Or the bream on Lake Tanganyika or Malawi
Or bait the tiger fish in Kariba or Cahora Bassa
I can mine diamonds in Congo or Chiadzwa
Dig for gold in Ghana or Tanzania
Or just pick gems and cowry shells wherever I roam
From Cape to Cairo and from Timbuktu to Mombasa
Or just in my dreams.
Strange shadows on these coral walls
stay hidden from the setting sun,
yet creeping through the shafts of amber light
drag behind them to the high parapet
a cloak of utter darkness.
Fierce defended, now are none:
no frightened men to urge the heavy cannon round
no shrill alarm or battle cries;
the end of this, as every other day has sealed
a silence now complete.
Once we held here, on this foreign shore,
the fortress of our childhood dreams
and all the world’s assaults
seemed nothing then;
an ocean breeze would cool the hurt of falling
and bring sweet scents to pick us up again.
Across the bay the dhows set sail upon a rising tide
their canvass spread against the purple sky.
We watched their leaving long ago
but you are gone away now, gone to sleep
and no injured soul so left alone
can wait to watch them home again.
Yet I will stand, a little or a while,
and will not fear cold shadows rising
nor while breathing yield the fort to them;
in every breach I meet your laughing eyes
and feel the warming of remembered suns.
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