Jonathan Kariara
If you should take my child Lord
Give my hands strength to dig his grave
Cover him with earth
Lord send a little rain
For grass will grow
If my house should burn down
So that the ashes sting the nostrils
Making the eyes weep
Then Lord send a little rain
For grass will grow
But Lord do not send me
Madness
I ask for tears
Do not send me moon hard madness
To lodge snug in my skull
I would you sent me hordes of horses
Galloping
Crushing
But do not break
The yolk of the moon on me.
Introduction to East African Poetry Jonathan Kariara and J. Kitonga.
THE DEATH OF MY FATHER
H. Indangasi
His sunken cheeks, his inward-looking eyes,
The sarcastic, scornful smile on his lips,
The unkempt, matted, grey hair,
The hard, coarse sandpaper hands,
Spoke eloquently of the life he had lived.
But I did not mourn for him.
The hammer, the saw and the plane,
These were his tools and his damnation,
His sweat was his ointment and his perfume.
He fashioned dining tables, chairs, wardrobes,
And all the wooden loves of colonial life.
No, I did not mourn for him.
He built colonial mansions,
Huge, unwieldy, arrogant constructions;
But he squatted in a sickly mud-house,
With his children huddled stuntedly
Under the bed-bug bed he shared with Mother.
I could not mourn for him.
I had already inherited
His premature old-age look,
I had imbibed his frustration;
But his dreams of freedom and happiness
Had become my song, my love.
So, I could not mourn for him.
No, I did not shed any tears;
My father’s dead life still lives in me,
He lives in my son, my father,
I am my father and my son.
I will awaken his sleepy hopes and yearnings,
But I will not mourn for him,
I will not mourn for me.
Boundless Voices: Poems from Kenya, ed. Arthur Luvai.
STANLEY MEETS MUTESA
David Rubadiri
Such a time of it they had;
The heat of the day
The chill of the night
And the mosquitoes that followed.
Such was the time and
They bound for a kingdom.
The thin weary line of carriers
With tattered dirty rags to cover their backs;
The battered bulky chests
That kept on falling off their shaven heads.
Their tempers high and hot
The sun fierce and scorching
With it rose their spirits
With its fall their hopes
As each day sweated their bodies dry and
Flies clung in clumps on their sweat-scented backs.
Such was the march
And the hot season just breaking.
Each day a weary pony dropped,
Left for the vultures on the plains;
Each afternoon a human skeleton collapsed,
Left for the Masai on the plains;
But the march trudged on
Its Khaki leader in front
He the spirit that inspired.
He the light of hope.
Then came the afternoon of a hungry march,
A hot and hungry march it was;
The Nile and the Nyanza
Lay like two twins
Azure across the green countryside.
The march leapt on chaunting
Like young gazelles to a water hole.
Hearts beat faster
Loads felt lighter
As the cool water lapt their sore soft feet.
No more the dread of hungry hyenas
But only tales of valour when
At Mutesa’s court fires are lit.
No more the burning heat of the day
But song, laughter and dance.
The village looks on behind banana groves,
Children peer behind reed fences.
Such was the welcome
No singing women to chaunt a welcome
Or drums to greet the white ambassador;
Only a few silent nods from aged faces
And one rumbling drum roll
To summon Mutesa’s court to parley
For the country was not sure.
The gate of reeds is flung open,
There is silence
But only a moment’s silence –
A silence of assessment.
The tall black king steps forward,
He towers over the thin bearded white man
Then grabbing his lean white hand
Manages to whisper
“Mtu Mweupe karibu”
White man you are welcome.
The gate of polished reed closes behind them
And the west is let in.
Introduction to East African Poetry Jonathan Kariara and J. Kitonga.
POEM IN FOUR PARTS
William Kamera
I
The leaves are withered
Roses fold and shrink.
Dog, the panting athlete, shows his tongue.
A dwarfed shadow flees –
Hides under my legs
Nuts wrinkle and crack.
II
The sun is old
The west glows like a worm
Shadows are long
There are cool whispers in the trees
The weavers make for their homes
Old Kibo in his “kanga” appears.
III
Like honey you covered the lawn
Fleeting beauty –
In the cool of the morning air
Peace-placid and pleasant.
The moist crystals of yesternight
Where are you gone?
I would have you for my own.
Surrendered at the approach of dawn.
IV
Sun from his eastern cradle
Like a chameleon measures his steps
Stretches his tender arms
Over the silent hills.
The trees exchange greetings
In the gentle whispers of dawn.
The lazy night is over.
The weaverbird disturbs my rest.
Day hatching from the eastern shell
Uncovers ice-shouldered Kibo.
Life blooms with the rose
In the cool of the morning air
The lazy night is over.
Poems from East Africa, eds. David Cook and David Rubadiri.
THE DEAD
Francis Nnaggenda
The dead are not under the earth
They are in the tree that rustles
They are in the woods that groan
They are in the water that runs
They are in the water that sleeps
They are in the hut, they are in the crowd
The dead are not dead.
Those who are dead are never gone
They are in the breast of a woman
They are in the child that is wailing and in the fire that flames.
The dead are not under the earth
They are in the fire that is dying
They are in the grass that is weeping
They are in the whimpering rocks
They are in the forest, they are in the house
They are not dead.
When my ancestors talk about the Creator they say:
He is with us … We sleep with him. We hunt with him.
We dance with him.
From Queen of Shaba Joy Adamson.
THE SINGING NAMES OF AFRICA
Isiola and Naivasha, Timboroa, Kiambu.
Names like prayers to heaven stealing
Full of lovely sound and feeling
Falling on the heart like dew.
Kilindini, Londiani, Rumuruti, Menengai.
On the mind and spirit laying
Benisons of music playing
Softly, sweetly as a sigh.
Embakasi, Karatina, Naro Moru, Kericho.
Like the note of trumpets calling,
With a perfect cadence falling
Rhythmic melodies that flow.
Serengeti, Amboseli, Kiminini, Eldoret.
From the realms of fancy bringing
Sound of bells a-swinging, ringing
Singing in my memory yet.
Poems of Kenya Phyllis Haynes.
1 The boat is a symbol for the first wife.
2 Pumpkins, which grow wild throughout Acoliland, are highly esteemed, and to uproot one would be an act of wanton destruction.
3 wanaotosheka – Swahili word for those who are satisfied – symbolically, those who privileged.
4 Small ramshackle bus.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
My grateful thanks are due to many who have helped me with suggestions and advice in compiling this anthology. In particular I should like to thank Sir Michael Blundell, whose knowledge of the literature is all-embracing; Adrian House, whose editorial counsel was constructive and valuable; Dr John Lonsdale for his advice on aspects of history; Mr James de Vere Allen and Dr Jan Knappert on Swahili verse; and many others.
The author and publisher are grateful to the copyright holders for permission to reprint the following copyright material: George Adamson: Bwana Game and My Pride and Joy, William Collins, London; Joy Adamson: Born Free, Queen of Shaba and The Searching Spirit, William Collins, London; Joy Adamson: Peoples of Kenya, William Collins, London, and the Estate of Joy Adamson; J. W. T. Allen: Tendi, William Heinemann Ltd, London; Lord Altrincham: Kenya’s Opportunity, Faber and Faber, London; Mtoro bin Mwinyi Bakari: The Customs of the Swahili People, University of California Press, Berkeley; Donald Barnett and Karari Njama: Mau Mau from Within, William Collins, London, and Monthly Review Press, New York; Mervyn Beech: The Suk: Their Language and Folklore, Oxford University Press, Oxford; W. D. M. Bell: The Wanderings of an Elephant Hunter, The C. W. Daniel Company, Saffron Walden; Cheryl Bentsen: Maasai Days, William Collins, London, and Summit Books, New York; Felice Benuzzi: No Picnic on Mount Kenya, William Collins, London; Karen Blixen: Out of Africa, The Bodley Head, London, Random House, New York, and the Estate of Karen Blixen, Los Angeles; Leslie Brown: The Mystery of the Flamingos, Octopus Publishing Group, London; Angus Buchanan: Three Years of War in East Africa, John Murray (Publishers) Ltd, London; C. W. L. Bulpett (ed.) John Boyes, King of the Wa-kikuyu, Methuen, London; Aline Buxton: Kenya Days, Edward Arnold, Sevenoaks; Luis da Camoens: The Lusiads, trans Richard Fanshawe, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge; Guy Campbell: The Charging Buffalo: A History of the Kenyan Regiment, Leo Cooper/Secker & Warburg, London; V. M. Carnegie: A Kenyan Farm Diary, Pillans and Wilson Ltd, Edinburgh; Winston Churchill: My African Journey, Curtis Brown Ltd, London, and the Estate of Sir Winston Churchill; Lady Evelyn Cobbold: Kenya: The Land of Illusion, John Murray (Publishers) Ltd, London; Cyril Connolly: The Evening Colonnade, Rogers, Coleridge & White Ltd, London; Hugh B. Cott: Looking at Animals, William Collins, London; Mervyn Cowie: Fly Vulture, Harrap, London and the author; W. E. Crosskill: The Two Thousand Mile War, Robert Hale, London; Basil Davidson: The African Past, Curtis Brown Ltd, London; Iain and Oria Douglas-Hamilton: Among the Elephants, William Collins, London; Kenneth Gandar Dower: The Spotted Lion, William Heinemann Ltd, London; E. A. T. Dutton: Kenya Mountain, Jonathan Cape Ltd and the Estate of E. A. T. Dutton; J. J. L. Duyvendak: China’s Discovery of Africa, Arthur Probsthain, London; Venn Fey: Wide Horizons, the Estate of Venn Fey; Angela Fisher: Africa Adorned, William Collins, London; G. S. P. Freeman-Grenville: The East Africa Coast: Select Documents, Dr G. S. P. Freeman-Grenville; Mugo Gatheru: Child of Two Worlds, Routledge & Kegan Paul, London; Sir John Gray: The British in Mombasa 1824 – 1826, Macmillan Ltd, London; Gerald Hanley: Warriors and Strangers, Hamish Hamilton Ltd, London; Ronald Hardy: The Iron Snake, William Collins, London; Lyndon Harries: Swahili Poetry, Oxford University Press, Oxford; Phyllis Haynes: Poems of Kenya, Mrs Phyllis Haynes; Ernest Hemingway: Green Hills of Africa, Mayor, Brown and Platt (Chicago) on behalf of the Estate of Ernest Hemingway; John Heminway: The Imminent Rains, Mr John Heminway; John Hillaby: Journey to the Jade Sea, Constable Publishers, London; C. W. Hobley: Bantu Beliefs and Magic, Frank Cass & Co. Ltd, London; Kenya: From Chartered Company to Crown Colony, H. F. & G. Witherby, London; Geoffrey Hodges: The Carrier Corps, Greenwood Press, Westport; A. C. Hollis: The Masai: Their Language and Folklore and The Nandi, Oxford University Press, Oxford; Simon Hook: Samburu Legends, unpublished collection of oral tales, Mr Simon Hook; Ian Meredith Hughes: Black Moon, Jade Sea, First Frost Ltd, London; G. W. B. Huntingford (ed): The Periplus of the Erythraean Sea, Hakluyt Society, London; Elspeth Huxley: Out in the Midday Sun, The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, White Man’s Country, Chatto & Windus, London; Nellie: Letters From Africa, Elspeth Huxley; Elspeth Huxley and Arnold Curtis: Pioneers’ Scrapbook: Reminiscences of Kenya 1890 – 1968, Evans Brothers Ltd, London; Elspeth Huxley and Hugo van Lawick: Last Days in Eden, William Collins, London; Juliette Huxley: Wild Lives of Africa, William Collins, London; G. J. P. Ionides: A Hunter’s Life, W. H. Allen, London; C. G. Jung: Memories, Dreams, Reflections, William Collins, London; Josiah Mwangi Kariuki: Mau Mau Detainee, Oxford University Press, Nairobi; Jomo Kenyatta: Facing Mount Kenya, Martin Secker & Warburg, London, and Random House Inc., New York; Valerie Kibera (ed): An Anthology of East African Short Stories, Longman, Harlow; Bruce Kinlock: The Shamba Raiders: Memoirs of a Game Warden, Ashford Press, Southampton; James Kirkman: Men and Monuments of the East African Coast, Lutterworth Press, Cambridge; Frank Kitson: Gangs and Counter-Gangs, Barrie & Jenkins, London; G. F. V. Kleen (ed): Brorvon Blixen: The Africa Letters, St Martin’s Press Inc., New York; Jan Knappert: A Choice of Flowers, Four Centuries of Swahili Verse, Myths and Legends of the Swahili, “Songs of the Swahili Women” and “Swahili Sailors’ Songs”, Mr Jan Knappert; David Lamb: The Africans, The Bodley Head, London; Hugo and Jane van Lawick-Goodall: Innocent Killers, William Collins, London; J. G. Le Breton: Kenya Sketches, Gemma Le Breton; Mary Leakey: Disclosing the Past, Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London; Olduvai Gorge: My Search for Early Man, William Collins, London, and the Curtis Brown Group Ltd, London, on behalf of the author; Richard Leakey: The Making of Mankind, Michael Joseph Ltd, London; Richard Leakey and Roger Lewin: People of the Lake, William Collins, London; David Lockwood and Alan Binks: A Cry From the Wild, Kenway Publications, Nairobi; Arthur Luvai (ed): Boundless Voices: Poems From Kenya, Heinemann Kenya Ltd, Nairobi; Earl of Lytton: The Desert and the Green, Macdonald, London; Beryl Markham: West with the Night, Laurence Pollinger, London, on behalf of the Estate of Beryl Markham; Esmond and Chryssee Bradley Martin: Cargoes of the East, Hamish Hamilton Ltd, London, and Esmond and Chryssee Bradley Martin; J. A. Massam: The Cliff Dwellers of Kenya, Frank Cass & Company Ltd; Richard Meinertzhagen: Army Diary 1899 – 1926, Longman, Harlow, and Kenya Diary 1902 – 1906, Eland Books, London; Charles Miller: Battle for the Bundu, Gunther Stuhlman, Author’s Representative; Charles Miller: The Lunatic Express, An Entertainment; Gunther Stuhlman, Author’s Representative; Cynthia Moss: Elephant Memories, Hamish Hamilton Ltd, London, and William Morrow & Company Inc., New York; Shiva Naipaul: North of South, André Deutsch Ltd, London, and Aitken & Stone Ltd, London; Obyero Odhiambo: “Betrothed” in A. D. Amateshe (ed), An Anthology of East African Poetry, Longman, Harlow; I. Q. Orchardson: The Kipsigis, Kenya Literature Bureau, Nairobi; A. B. Percival: A Game Ranger on Safari and A Game Ranger’s Note Book, the Estate of A. B. Percival; Margery Perham: East African J
ourney, Faber & Faber Ltd, London; Stephen Pern: Another Land, Another Sea, Mr Stephen Pern; Earl of Portsmouth: A Knot of Roots, Garnstone Press, London; Laurens van der Post: First Catch Your Eland, Chatto & Windus, London; John Reader and Harvey Croze: Pyramids of Life, Peters, Fraser & Dunlop Group Ltd, London; Alys Reece: To My Wife – Fifty Camels, William Collins, London; Lorenzo Ricciardi: The Voyage of the Mir-el-Lal, William Collins, London; Mirella Ricciardi: African Saga, William Collins, London; Mort Rosenblum and Doug Williamson: Squandering Eden: Africa at the Edge, The Bodley Head, London, and the Carol Mann Agency, New York; George Schaller: Golden Shadows, Flying Hooves, William Collins, London, and Alfred A. Knopf lnc., New York; John Schmid: The Kenya Magic, Breachwood Publications, Hitchin; Henry Seaton: Lion in the Morning, John Murray (Publishers) Ltd, London; Philip Snow: The Star Raft, Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London; Everett Standa: “A Pregnant School Girl” in A. D. Amateshe (ed), An Anthology of East African Poetry, Longman, Harlow; C. H. Stigand: The Land of Zinj, Constable Publishers, London; Harry Thuku: An Autobiography, Oxford University Press, Nairobi; Charles Chenevix Trench: The Desert’s Dusty Face, Pillans & Wilson Ltd, Edinburgh; Errol Trzebinski: Kenya Pioneers and Silence Will Speak, William Heinemann Ltd, London; Vivienne de Watteville: Speak to the Earth, Methuen, London; Evelyn Waugh: Remote People, Peters, Fraser & Dunlop Group Ltd, London; Colin Willock: Africa’s Rift Valley, Time-Life Books, London; Michael Wood: Different Drums, Curtis Brown Group Ltd, London; Francis Brett Young: Marching on Tanga, David Higham Associates Ltd, London.
Bibliography
Adamson, George, Bwana Game Collins Harvill, London, 1968.
Nine Faces Of Kenya Page 63