LETTERS FOR MY MOTHER

GREEN

I used to be mean and dry
Look at what you made me into
Now even the clouds shy to cry
I want to believe
I can glide and fly
My particles nourish the nano and the micro
I was once called the pride of Savannah

Hmph I am scowled and laugh at
The star in the sky shines day and night
For being care free to sire a non-heir
Nothing to cover my skin caramel
I am left bare and cracking
The harmattan and the Kalahari dance simultaneously
For the once pride and bountiful is nothing but vanity
Only a few I gave the gift of seeing calamity
The rest dance with joy and bliss at the peril

I used to be lush and green
Ancient beast men and women alike
Roomed freely in my presence
Boasting of the vast flora and fauna
Lakini siku hizi hata mti karibu hakuna
Tumegeuka kuwa wazalendo wa kukata miti hadharani
Alafu tunajivunia kuwa wanafunzi watafuzu maishani
Our youths are claiming certificates and masters
To loiter and toil treeless streets and homes
Is this the new wave of intellectuals wiping us clean?
Turning landlords into hawkers
Parents to students of slavery
Give me my jembe and seeds to reap my harvest
Almighty gives and takes away from abusers and users

I used to be
Now look at me !
Sold me cheap to the highest bidder at the port
For sweets  sugar cloth and cotton
The ancient beast hidden forever memories forgotten
Tell me is your greed vast to turn against another ?
Auctioning nature beast and fellow brethren so cheap?
For a few shells bangles nickels and dimes
Black lives matter don’t be so oblique
Let me coin it once and never again
For if you bleed color red we are one
And one are the same
Don’t bring clubs and taverns to confuse our spirits
Give me ganja my grass
My herb pure and sweet
It’s the healing of the nation
To cure Each one spirits