The expired tears-
Of the pain and peril,
Of those sons & daughters born in the East,
Remain as Kenya’s emblem of Inequality.
Why were you born eastwards?
Didn’t your parents countenance the punishment of poverty?
What constrained their endeavour to escape East-gate?
The wrath of penury,
Buttressed by the quest for greater opulence by Kenya’s plutocracy,
Gnaws at every effort,
By East-gate to emancipate.
Like Day and Night
Binary distinctions between the East and the West
Remain cruelly overt.
Whether in life or death-
The poor are known by how society (mis)treats them.
For when the Occupants of Opulence sneeze, the Public pauses.
Yet, when the Primates of Paucity die, life drifts on, unflustered
East pays the taxes
The West uses and abuses the taxes
The East sings ‘patriotic’ songs in honour of the West’s ‘gallantry’.
The West pretentiously crows dirges for the fallen East.
On Public Holidays,
The East sends its contortionist daughters, to shake their rumps-
In front of raunchy male dignitaries from the West
Meanwhile, the daughters of the West, slouch in exquisite coaches,
Loafing away the day, watching a Box Office Movie.
The daily grind of breadwinning,
A sport perfected by the East,
Is refereed by ravenous umpires from the West
Isn’t a ten shilling coin, in the parched trouser of an East-lands’ man
As worthy as the same coin, left behind as the waiteress’ tip,
By the pot-bellied honcho, after a coffee rendezvous?
The over-revved jalopies plying pot-holed roads in East-gate neighbourhoods
Are metallic death-traps proudly owned by some West-gate wheeler-dealers;
In the morning, they ferry the frightened East to work;
In the evening, their proceeds furl the West with felicity.
For the West, the ends don’t just meet, they carouse.
For the East, the ends don’t meet, they repellently approach.
The East is naively divided by ethnicity.
The West is nonchalantly united by profligacy.
Who is the foolish one?
National tragedies reveal our fake unity
National elections release our animal instinct.
The West comes to the East to make a cameo appearance,
Albeit hypocritical, when the latter is bereaved.
East-gate is scorched by the blistering Sun,
As she lines up to vote into office, the voracious West-
For a five year season of sin, servitude, slovenly and shameless stealing!
Until East-gate gets angry enough;
The Westgate won’t be fearful enough-
To jettison the jeer, the jest and the injustice,
That it perpetually metes out on the egregious East.
The West is hijacked by greed;
The East is trapped by dearth.
Who shall save the other?
________________________
A satirical serenade for Kenya’s two groups of citizenry.
Wannabe Word-smith. Impressionable. Eccentric. Maybe Condescending. Be the Judge, nay, Executioner. 