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.

About This Video
View poetry in an entirely new and innovative w... (more) Added: February 13, 2007 View poetry in an entirely new and innovative way. Billy Collins, former US Poet Laureate and one of America's best-selling poets, reads his poem "Forgetfulness" with animation by Julian Grey of Headgear. Noted for their intelligent humor, accessibility and observations on daily life, Collins' popular poems come alive further in a series of animated poems produced by JWT-NY.

The Poem
The name of the author is the first to go followed obediently by the title, the plot, the heartbreaking conclusion, the entire novel which suddenly becomes one you have never read, never even heard of, as if, one by one, the memories you used to harbor decided to retire to the southern hemisphere of the brain, to a little fishing village where there are no phones. Long ago you kissed the names of the nine Muses goodbye and watched the quadratic equation pack its bag, and even now as you memorize the order of the planets, something else is slipping away, a state flower perhaps, the address of an uncle, the capital of Paraguay. Whatever it is you are struggling to remember, it is not poised on the tip of your tongue, not even lurking in some obscure corner of your spleen. It has floated away down a dark mythological river whose name begins with an L as far as you can recall, well on your own way to oblivion where you will join those who have even forgotten how to swim and how to ride a bicycle. No wonder you rise in the middle of the night to look up the date of a famous battle in a book on war. No wonder the moon in the window seems to have drifted out of a love poem that you used to know by heart.

Rumi's poems elegantly and consistently touch our inner being and inspire us to go beyond our limitations towards the Divine. The music: The credits do appear at the end of this video, but it is by the composer, Eleni Karaindrou, and is the theme music called "Eternity and a Day" from the movie, Aggelopoulos. A note on the music: This entire video was constructed in silence-only the poem and the images were put together without my knowing what music would be the right one. The music is so important to the interpretation of these poems. Rather than reading them, the music is my voice. When I 'laid' this beautiful piece of music over the video it fit perfectly. Few edits were made to accomodate the images to fit the music. They seem to be made for each other.