POEM “THE VIGIL” (Tribute to Westgate’ Terror) Is it Kenyan’s incursion into Southern Somalia? Or the support that Al-Shabaab got from Eritrea Is the brutal shooting spree a religious fanaticism? Or just another irrational zeal like that of Nazism Is Operation Linda Nchi disastrous like Barbarossa? Now we have to preach harmony like Mother Teresa? I ask myself a thousand questions That fills my head like a balloon that doesn’t deflate As I reflect the massacre at the Westland’s Westgate Motherless children and ambulance sirens has arisen The number of the survivors still continues to lessen But the assailants will not dare listen And if Kenya doesn’t respond They say the situation will worsen Or else peace in Kenya will depend On if Kenya’s boys leave Horn of Africa Its seems to me that the battlefield Has been taken to their land Away from Somali-land It is sad how even children Are considered the enemies of Islam This is not what I was taught by my Imam This is not a fair war like one fought in Vietnam Where Viet Cong made full of pride the son of Adam But this Islamist extremism has set my brothers in memoriam I sigh For my sisters the reach of whose dreams was high I mourn for my brother and his lover Killed as they crouched on the ground for cover At the candlelight vigil I doubt that I am still living at my own peril Or should I be scared of my brother wearing a turban? Even if that does make him a Taliban Is it not his culture so to wear? Should I now wear fear or devil-may- care Should I still visit the malls and my son the Day Care? Should I direct the line of inquiry to David Kimaiyo? Though the same fate to us might just be an embryo Or should I warn Said Mwema that it’s almost nine? Whether we should rely on “Come Rain, Come Shine” Should we fix the ambulances, fire and the police? Or engage in the operation “Think Peace”? I pray with Ghanaians for poet Kofi Awoonor Your work will always live among us and above all “Promise of Hope” remains a gesture of your survival Long live Storymoja Hay Festival I pray for the victims of the terror I pray for Kenya I pray for Somalia I pray for Tanzania ® Kenneth Leon Kolowa
Posted on: Thu, 03 Oct 2013 16:32:16 +0000
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