Flag and Future

They declared black the colour of my people,
the Luo and the Taita and every shade within,
including they who chose here over past homes.
Green signified the land and its fertility,
of Marsabit and Muranga and Malindi,
every altitude and region between.

Red was the blood spilled till ’63
in wars our own and not, every encounter
known and shrouded in silence a declaration
of our right to direct our destiny.
White was the way they hoped we would live
for posterity: in peace, love and unity.

But in the city blood spews as rocks fly
to kill kinship, and police in their turn
set young limbs in their sights
every temple hot and righteous
vengeful fists on freedoms fields

and blood spews in the Rift Valley
an artery bearing a jagged rift
cut a century deep, so we fight ‘n die today
to honor the memory
though there are healing-salts at Magadi.

Mourning, and being mourned,
I see the flag and hope aloud now
White stripes – light this night
bring peace, love, bind us whole.

let this rich blood build and heal us,
warm and show us how green
Mt Kenya Turkana Kibera, how precious still
Ancient Ones see them be.