NAIROBI LIGHTS

The lights…

The city lights are bright.

The people rush by, somehow looking too busy

Their destinations remain a mystery,

Maybe even to themselves.

Pushed forward by an unknown force.

They shove and elbow.

The lights…

The city lights are bright.

They blind the young, nay overwhelm them.

Like a succubus they suck their souls and feed on their dreams,

Offer them deep bottomless promises…

An empty hole.

The lights…

The city lights are bright.

The young female paints her face,

Striving to rival the beauty of the lights.

She bears her discomfort amidst the stares,

Jeers, Cat calls, She dreams of release,

All the while losing herself in the vast humanity here.

Her feet ache.

The lights…

The city lights are bright.

Mr. Young man feigns the bounce in his step.

His peers encourage him,

For this is the way of the lights.

His future an unclear portrait of his past,

His eyes shifty.

The lights…

The city lights are bright.

The old folk raise their fists at them.

A journey travelled with no real destination.

They cry salvation for this seemingly new world.

Houses devoid of the comfort of homes.

Children buried before them

The lights…

The city lights are bright.

THE DANCE

There was once a story told…

A story of greatness and power hunger

Of tradition distorted by strange influence

A dance created by multiple beats out of place.

The young dancer is unripe to the ways

The ways of the African intense sound of song

She looks beyond the hills and the fading sunshine

To the direction from where the song that woos her heart comes.

Thrust into the crowd to learn through observation

Her hips move awkwardly as the music swells her heart

Like a secret love she visits the hills late in the hour of self

The crescendo startles her, she missed her step.

The music in the hills makes her eyes glitter and smile

She moves her waist to the two different beats of her life

And her feet shuffle in a semi-trance that became the dance

Her fingers and hands form the shape of the river down south.

People around her look frenzied now, the drums frantic

The violins weep louder, the pianos serenade her intensities

She falls to her knees, her strength gone to the hills beyond yonder

Her fingers clutch at the soil so warm against her blood.

She weeps loudly now as her mind and soul beg release

A bigger root to go deeper and grant her stability unshaken by time

For the wind to sway her yet not move her an inch further from home

The music starts again, and her tired feet lift her towards the crowd.

WORDS OF INTUITION

Whisper, whisper
You know you hear me
That Shadow to your left shouldn't be there
No, no darling
Ignore the bustle of the day
And listen to me

Whisper, whisper
Should you be doing that?
Forget the piety of morality
But the truth is tattooed in me
i am not Jesus, i am a scroll
Listen to me

Whisper, whisper
That itch under your skin
No the weather is warm not cold
You can"t sit still
No your attention span is fine
Just listen to me

Whisper, whisper
That's your heart, I'm rushing it
That's your adrenaline, I'm flooding it
Hey! hey!
Are you deaf?
Would you listen to me!

Whisper, whisper
My vocal chord are tired
Strained from the effort
Darling, forgive me but i shall take my leave
I have no more patience
You should have listened to me.

THE BREAK UP SONG

Today I cried… and every tear had great meaning.

Today I painted my past and it made me cry

Yes, my darling, I cried for you.

I counted the tears as they hit my pillow…right before they sank in.

I cried for me, for us.

My dear darling I cried with my heart… wept with my very being.

I wept not for regret but rather disappointment.

My expectations were not high, yet you went lower than the ground.

So I bid thee farewell… and I only wish that my face is the last you see.

For in my head you see, I am schizophrenic… I am psychotic.

I lick the blood staining my hands…

I swore to never carve my heart out for you.

But a sacrifice had to be made yet there were only two of us.

Yes my darling, embrace the pain and do not let your heart flutter,

For even sacrifices have to be flawless.

I bid thee farewell… your blood filled with all its essence made the best ink.

I created our last portrait. Stained red with no real dimensions.

Let it not alarm you, I would never sell it.

Instead, due to the great amount of emotion you caused me,

I will burn it.

The skies will turn dark.

And I will smile.

SINCE I LEFT

Since I Left…

Since I left I have been in some sort of a trance

Without you my life has stood somewhat still

Almost as if my still waters have been unjustly stirred

I ache for you, yet somehow I still feel your presence

All around me…within me.

Since I left I have been finding myself through a long journey

A journey to find you yet I know exactly where you are

Like an addicted drug user I seek to find your high again

Yet somehow I am afraid to find a replacement of you

For that would mean I would have to forget you.

Since I left I have been wondering how you are now

Wondering how your nights feel without your sheets rumpled

Do you still enjoy the stars or have their colors begun to change

Somehow the nights are slower now, while my honey lays untapped

Trying to bury myself in emotion only confuses me.

Since I left I have been wondering whether or not I miss you

Here I realize that I love missing you from a safer distance

So I bid thee farewell my love, whom I will always hold dear

I ask that you miss me with that longing like a somewhat gentle tug

Let not our memories be a sword to the soul.

HOLDING HANDS WITH A STRANGER

HOLDING HANDS WITH A STRANGER

They met, unofficially introduced by nature

Each at a strategic vantage point from the other

Their coexistence held neither rivalry nor malice

Their connection seemed almost like smoke and mirrors

Their passion a familiar legend told amongst humanity

They stare boldly at each other and their hearts flutter

A horizon simultaneously separating yet bonding them together

Sometimes if only for the slightest of moments their skins tingle

A feeling of the other looking towards them, searching for them,

Their eyes meet yet they cannot see each other.

In their times of great emotion this becomes their haven

Here they often meet and whisper their secrets to each other

Their lips do not move and their feeling carried on by the wind

Sometimes they smile to each other in gratification not feigned

With hearts swollen with joy only they could understand.

These two souls may never meet yet there will be no disappointments

For their late nights shared may very well be almost conjured

Their view of the horizon from different points of the earth

Such is the joy of a shared experience from so many miles apart

Such is the magic in holding hands with a stranger.

Inspired by JKIA lights….

                             By Kui Kubai

JACK COME OUT TO PLAY

There’s a girl

Standing in the rain

Waiting to knock on a door

But the fear consumes her

So she doesn't

She just stands there

Waiting for the door to open

Like magic

Like in the movies

There’s a reality

When the sun shines,

The romance is over for her

The door will open

Jack will come out to play

Lest he becomes a dull boy

Or maybe a social outcast

So it’s not for her

A play of fate

A normal thing

Nothing special

So she stands in the rain

Waiting for the door to open

Jack come out to play

In the rain

We can play pretend-

That the rain is dew

We can swim in the river

If we drowned

At least we’d hold hands

When we walked towards the light

Then when the sun shines

She’ll walk away

Happiness is too painful

It makes the world stop spinning

Because pain is all we really want

Like a girl standing in the rain

Willing to die

Willing to live

Open the door jack

I'm here

I won’t ring the door bell

Do you feel my heart?

It’s in the thunder

Scratching at your window

Can you hear me breathe?

I make the trees fall-

In your lawn

Come come

Hold me before the sun shines

While I whisper wet despicable things-

In your ears

For a moment...

On your doorstep

Jack come out to play

Before the sun shines...