On a naked street, in this harsh Nairobi
With its sunny flames that sadly sears and scalds
In this City in the Sun, once an allure of the Savannah
They have cut all the trees to build their new tall buildings
Leaving its inhabitants to seek solace in inhabitable places
Maybe the filthy dumpsites or sources of stewing sewerage
Or the sweet silent banks of the stinky littered flowing Nairobi River
Does it even really flow? Ah! That is a topic for another day discussion!
Aloof and alone he sat with all his sorrows and sadness scorching him
Watching one injustice spill into another and another…….
A passenger denied his right of choice of transport
A pedestrian robbed his right of way – just a leaping pass
To the other side of the same street on a zebra crossing
A hawker hauled into Kanjù’s van with a sheer brutal heave
His hard-worn wares the toil of his daily sweats spilled all over the sad streets
To be trudged by fellow scampering sellers, fast carelessly driving matatus
And the seeking for safety street gazers, trekkers, tourists and geezers
A tout, a tough hustle, in shouts to earn his daily bread!
Though couth too, in his handling and dealing with innocent customer’s
Suddenly, impounded and harassed by the corrupt navy blue clad
His manhood mishandled in their behind belt demeaning up grip
That he has to walk half-way on land and halfway on acrid air
On the tips of his torn toes to preserve the potent of his future content
It is better to run on bleeding toes than to live without to be outlived!
Then he remembered the injustices of his justice
The sole reason he has found himself in these same sad streets
Streets with injustices, immoralities and animosities
Before, his heart was with confidence in systems and departments
As he stood before the Dispensers of Justice, the pride of his sad State!
He believed in, where the corrupt Protectors of Justice failed
Ah! If one institution fails there should-another be with integrity
After all many in fifty or so million of us never trust them
Not even with their bold logo and motto said to ‘Serve Citizens Indiscriminately!
He fully trusted in these whose coming, their triumphant entry into…….
Into these rooms small, stuffy and filled to overflowing capacity
Is loud announced with ‘All rise!’ as front to the secure bench they march
And once in session the door is secured with a strict note
To the raucous outside ‘silence, seriousness in session!’
He believed to earn his just hearing and favourable ruling
But as all other failed institutions, this too failed him
It dragged him long and strong, up to these streets he has been forced
To call home, house and habitat, his way and his stay-his dear life!
He saw the real face of injustice, boldly and blindly staring at him
As it denied him his worth and his wealth, his health and his struggled earth
In a war with a miraculous might, whose presence and absence are unsaid
He appears and disappears in absentia and in each what he wants he gets away with
His doubted presence strengthened through his school of legal subjects-representatives
These sadistic opportunists who thrive only in subverting the known truth
This town’s strong Ghost owns and earns in absence from here and there,
All over the despondent country-he has amassed his lucky fortunes!
To him ‘the Strong Man in the Mist!’ he has lost his gains and inherited his pains
The struggles to deal with betrayals all around him evident in his sad ending life!
