Katiba mpya: Names for it
For all it cost. For all we've lost. For all who persisted, decade upon decade, in the face of every defeat. For the invisible heroes of four generations, who brought it to fruition. For those taken by the struggle, whose spirits we carry with us. For those who laboured for this and did not live to see it realised. For the bereaved, displaced, dispossessed, raped, whose blood and suffering have watered this moment. If victory means anything, it must mean the beginning of restitution…
brightness of joy how it
drips off our fingers
pools in our navels
gulps up the sun
thirst of our joy how it
swallows the highways
matatus and weaverbirds
rocket our ribs
tidal of joy how it
carries this country
anthems that surf
the green dazzle of trees
gentle of joy how it
melts out of garbage heaps
laps at the flex
of ten million walking legs
unhinges the pincers
of history's heartbreaks
kisses them into the wind
here comes shadow here
comes shadow welcome
shadow sit with joy
i could cup all anger this moment
in the quiet of my joy
i could fold the world's dementia
in the quiet of my joy
i could still the planet's sirens
in the quiet
in the quiet
in the quiet of my.......
come to us like a thunderstorm
enter us like rain
sweep through us like a monsoon wind
then seed in us like flame
wake in us like an untold story
cry in us like a lone survivor
rip through us like a parturition
claw your way out of our bodies
pour and swallow what it takes
(and it takes everything)
surge and carry what it takes
(and it takes everything)
hold and cradle what it takes
every moment every breath
nothing less than everything
is what it takes
to dream
'Katiba mpya' = New constitution
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* Award-winning poet Shailja Patel's personal website is www.shailja.com.
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