Philosopher's Pen

I lie on my bed Busy watching a mosquito Listening to its lyrics I'm tempted to dance to its tune But its movements in circles So disgusting I think of its freedom The way it moves freely during the curfew hours I envy that  To even get some few bites on the "ever timely" officers But then I realize it's within my cage In my mosquito net Freedom limited My hand begin twitching Beckoning me to smack it and get it over with But what's the essence What's the essence of smacking that bloody pest? Coz we are all but out for some blood too Aren't we? Some innocent blood So tell me Is your interest towards that "dem ameiva" good? The way you look at that hot neighbour, Are your intentions towards him straight? Are your intentions towards that hot secretary clear? Are your interests in that contract known? Are they? That colleague at the office Are your intentions about them pure? Or are we just but blood sucking vampires in human skins Bettered with nic

I do not know you. But I do love you I love you because I have learnt  how to love my self Never give up All the world is yours look... If you are not there  The world aint there Do not look at the world It has never cared for you more than you have cared for your self Care for your self for all the world to care With all the love  can love me I love you

You are beautiful like a golden Dawn Your smile makes my heart tingle You laughter makes my nerves tickle You are indeed the blessing of Jah though I am not a Rastafarian I think that is the language you understand I am happy that you are growing into your fullness But I am scared that your breast are piercing your T-shirt like a terrifying thorn You asked me to buy you a smart phone I am afraid that you will post the pictures of your ass that have ballooned so beautiful I wonder what will happen when " mafisi"  see it  Will they not prey on you and leave me a sorry mother? I am told that your agemets are already having sex My stomach twists when I imagine that you could have started laying bare your femaleness for boys to play with I follow every eye that I see following you I am not an intelegence officer but I have launched high level investigation of your conduct in our village I want you to grow without me holding you back All the same I am not so sure of how

Twenty three be my lucky marker This year and the next I never thought I could live out of my twenty one and twenty two For every one year  I kept on living in my twenty first for twenty four Is it okay to want to stick in my twenties For the thirties are scary but not like the forties Is it not bad to want not to grow old  Maybe not For growing is knowing and knowing leads to precautions Don't eat that it's bad for your heart Don't drink that you will kill your kidneys Don't sniff that you'll damage your lungs Don't dance like that you'll break your spine And the cycle continues To the very last of your numbers Twenty twenty may be old and full of worries But are we making merry My twenty three full of worry Just like my twenty twenty full of misery Forgive me twenty twenty I didn't want you broken Bring us back the merry of twenties Valarie Okeyo Valarie Okoyo is twenty three years old Kenyan poet. Alongside poetry, valerie is a Nutritionis

I stood beside her open grave but deeper than it was the cutting sorrow I felt Tears danced sadly down my pale face as if they artistically intended to display my grief Ntendo had died young and penniless Precisely, she was that  famous penniless poet She had big dreams for the two of us Too big for anyone to carry alone even the two of us were doubtful of our strength May be in the stillness of death one could carry curry such weight with dignity She did not seem bothered by our grandiose dream Our dream was to change the world Yes she had tried with all her might before one last breath sweept her into the long silent night orather  another dimension's light In my eyes she had tried but failed ,not to make the world better It was me she had failed Anyway she had tried and sometimes that is the best that can be done I could not blame her despite the strong feeling that made me think of her as a deserter  I could not blame her because no one a part from Adam and Eve ever changed the

Dancing to my usual tune of daily chapters The melody was marvelous Overtime I realized it was angraved in my skin  I was so immersed in my daily life that l had this natural glow, happy times  I had no room to think about "suddenly" But one day it knocked in front of my door, uninvited  I opened up, it was there  Standing before my eyes My usual tune faded bit by bit  The only thing that was left was dancing to a new tune New chapters flipped before my eyes Sooner or later I had to come to terms  Hoping that these new chapters had hidden treasure in them Took a leap of faith and carried on with my life as my entire framework struggled to adjust every step of the way Shantal Kisimba Bio Shantal Kisimba is a Kenyan writer, a human rights advocate with a passion of reaching out to the mentally ill and those who have had experiences that have impacted their psychological wellbeing. She is also an Environmentalist. Shantal is also enthusiastic about empowe

I believe in God and I believe in man I believe the sun will set and rise again I believe we become because God never makes mistakes I am not a a believer because I fear hell I am a believer because I know love and it is perfect I believe that God is one whatever you call him I believe we become what we want but God is the light to the path I believe we choose to reach your destiny or to die and fade to the ashes I believe we kill each other because of the strong desire to be right but there is this angel asking what if you are wrong I believe our help is in the sky but the desire is in our heart I believe the world and everything is perfect I know we will become when we see

What's there to lose knowing you've lived your life to the fullest With no regrets With no limits For you only had one shot What's there to lose knowing you've had your share of rights and wrongs Been a saint and a sinner Seen the light and gone down those dark alleys What's really there to lose When life can't hold you no more And death is not sure where to take you When an afterlife awaits A soul so heavy  In a body so clingy There's nothing to lose When the soul breaks loose When divinities are perched before you Unsure which path befalls you.

My love cannot be perfect But it is authentic as Dawn even if it is chilly and windy It is sure to be and to always come My love cannot be perfect But it sure lingers even when you call and I don't wish to shout my answer It is sure to be and to always come My love cannot be perfect But I still feel it strong when I tell you I don't like your skirt It is sure to be and to always come My love cannot be perfect It is sure to be calm when you spew insult and be insolent It is sure to be and to always come My love cannot be perfect  But it is like the rain that will always come even after it has caused a mess It is sure to be and to always come My love cannot be  perfect It is like the sun that is sure to rise even after it has caused drought It is sure to be and to always come My love cannot be perfect But it will always be authentic

I want to steal you tonight Give you wings so we can fly To somewhere where one night is forever I hope forever will be enough I hope we make it to  heaven I want to hold your hands Dance the night away Above the moon and the stars I want you to understand the pulse of love I hope we make it to heaven We may never be strong the same Time may have eaten some of the flame I may have broken some promises, but I kept some I may have also made you cry, but I also tried to make you laugh Yesterday not withstanding, I hope tonight we make it to heaven I want to remind you of the words of our old poems I hope the melodies trickle like water from a gentle fall in the middle of a perfect paradise No-matter what the past has painted, I hope tonight we make it to heaven I wish to remind you of the melody of our giggle by the river The music the crickets made with the sound of our heartbeats I hope you remember the sound of blood rushing in my veins and the beauty of our bl

The world is scary The evening has come and the night is about to engulf the black Africa Echoes and wails of scared souls chatters of mischief displaying terror People are making fun of the night but the night is not funny Danger larks in the dark, the race has lost wit and the trust is left up in the sky Wisdom of yore is lost but somewhere in history God had given an answer People panic, helter-skelter they run to the Eternal One He is merciful and wise but he is neither black nor white So he looks at Eden with Mercy The begging of man kind, will He save them in Eden? The clock ticks and the Passover is happening Children of God have no answer But a prayer from the son of the Earth That God will chose to save Eden the cradle of man kind

Sons of God Born in paradise Made to forget that they were made to rule the world And God painted it in the color of their skin Sons of light Colored like night that men can see light Children of love Born in paradise Letting the paradise loose Letting their power leave their feet Sons of I The power of life Given all by love A perfect world By love Look back to Light  And the world will be perfect again Open your eyes once more You created all they see Reclaim your paradise Reclaim your place in the heart of Love Close your eyes and be the light Sons of God Be the reflection of Light

A simple smile Beaming like a shooting star My heart without wasting time Crushes in hers causing a supernova  Intergalactical connection Nothing makes sense Yet everything is sensible Senseless seems to greatly make sense The world can come to a stop For the moment's ovation And I feel omnipotent Formaeun

Father I dream to be your hero To carry you legacy Fight the enemies of progress Ignorance and disease But I just realised my stomach is empty And an empty stomach can kill a dream  You told me to follow my dreams That one day they will be more than just dreams They will be reality people live I have tried my best And I still try my best But as the pains of hunger grow I become more convinced that An empty stomach can kill  a dream We were many They were good fighters But we lost them,  How could they ever keep on fighting with empty stomachs Father do you now see How an empty stomach can kill a dream? We were many in this home But brothers started leaving One after another to look for food Neighbours drove us to despair by laughing at our uncompensated determination Hoping for the fruits of your love All along hunger did not subside But a dream near death held on We hoped you could see How an empty stomach can kill a dream Father We are not sure if you know us Or remember that you hav

Life's rat race is a nut case You could win today in battle but loose the war You could win a war with a lot of losses No one leaves a fight without a scratch Never be too proud of the glory of a victory Remember in a single century there were two world wars Which told us winning a war is does not mean you will never loose And that loosing sometimes keeps you safer than winning If you win today keep watching your back Thank God if you secure your foe's forgiveness But never be too sure, keep watching your back Victory is sweet not safe Surrender is most often a better war strategy However, sometimes attack is the only option If circumstances are such Approach a war with a heart that resembles one mouring a bossom friend Look at victory as disgrace to your humanity And every casualty as a terrible loss For even one is a number when it is close enough to your bone

Abimelek The universe is governed by justice and order From the two you will be judged And your life is governed by the laws of your being From them shall you reap Abimelek Every man chooses his life Through thought, nature and character By the laws of their being they become

The law of his being and his actions are not in harmony Thus he feels hard pressed by the need to survive He watches the sun and sees how perfect Yet he is so imperfect despite them both being brought forth by the same God Broken laws and broken codes weigh down on him His late father warned him against rushing to after life So that is not his option The only way out is to tune his life  But how in the world is it possible to stay alive and change all that he has done There is no way to undo the past The only way is to do the future The waves are great and the swimmer is a feather Science can't explain how a light weight caused such a disturbance He has to swim against the wave of his own creation To the shore of harmony with his being

Why this fist fight Why fight for God's feast Why not just look and listen that every human has a spiritual journey Whether aknowledged or not  Why kill each other for the hope of salvation For the common desire to have a little more beyond this flesh Why kill for God as if God is not God Goodness God is wise God of freewill knows how  Good God gave us religion to help us grow spiritual not religious It doesn't matter how you believe you are on an individual journey It doesn't matter how many Christian's, Muslims, Hindu, Buddhists or or hawmany of you in whichsoever Creed you posses You are on a personal journey Speak to God in painful truth Stand as you are in your spirit before God God is wise to guide you God is God You have heard 

It left my lips Into the wings of the wild winds Like untamed stallion holding it back was impossible The word had it's progeny A vague replica of the sire No one could tell what it meant anymore Or exactly what was said For it was said off record And heard in the false echo by the right ears From the wrong source and medium That which was well meant smelled like a maleciois rumor Truth and cover-up looked like sons of the same womb Flames of distrust and suspicion eating away the flesh of noble intention Love of brothers soured into notable contention Acred stench of regret suffocating my solitary mind How I wished the golden septor of silence had governed my lips The words and intention would have descended like the son of man Coming with the clouds of heaven at the right hand of God the Father But all that was left for my use was a valuable lesson to be kept in the chest of wisdom

They are there for you In good and bad times You pour to them your heart And more than a bucket full they take Telling you all is well and hold on They are doing the best they can to make you better While their own basketful is unattended They sacrifice everything for you to be ok For love and for the duty They try to hold on to everything The shear force of tearing world pulling them apart They hold the pain And see souls they could not save dancing on the ceiling of their bed chambers Maybe there is more I could do thought flashes through the solitary mind Beating self to do better yet the best was already done Feeling sick is inevitable But who heals the healer

I want to be strong But for how long Poetry is my close friend who I share with my secret pain Because I don't have to be the persona Even if my motivation is the pain bottled in my neck Even if it hurts and makes people smile I am not the persona even if every drop of ink paints my excruciation Poetry hides me, makes me wake up without feeling ashamed of spilling my shit So my white shirt is white and my shit is not mine That is smart,the selfless persona takes the pain I take the gain But it still does not feel better So I can smile from the outside and only God knows what I feel inside I stand on the stage spewing my heart out The crowd cheers at how heartfelt each word is How true to human condition I write It just can't be me I also believe I am not the persona As much my noose dangerously dangles close to my nose I can't be the one Till everyone say it can't be! Alarmed at the it could be

Sometimes I wonder Where will I get with all this wander  May be I will be the last wonder No wonder I seem to be the only one of my kind alive Seeking to understand the five rays While the fire of one God still burns in me Amids the demand for multiple piety I keep faith but sometimes fail to go to church on Sunday I find mammon greatly important But I do not wish to abandon my jealous God To whom I send my piety to find pity for my soild soul Him I am expected to give blind faith For love is blind and I am bound by my allegence to love Him with all my heart I wish to turn to understand my ancestors who warshiped one God and called him a different name The God I am told they saw in the sun and old trees And the first mission to our land declared them pagans Turning my eyes to see what they saw is quite for bidden So my faith swings on the seesaw of insatiable desire Coupled with modernization quickly taking over The powder keg of religion calls for devine clarification Eve

Held under the rubbles The pieces fell one by one  It was happening like nothing was happening Patiently falling away thinking I was in control Not knowing that I was getting under control Of substances loosing my soul to pursuit of insatiable pleasure Thinking I was growing stronger When I needed more to get a high I only learnt I was lost When I was already in the underworld With the hell fire of craving inflicting mortal pangs Running lost between deathly consumption and mortal withdrawal Feeling dead and only needed a little dose of death to feel alive I cried for help But most of my friends were also drawing in the same bottomless sea If I could turn back time I would erase the day I sold my soul to the first puff and bottle That now accounts for the days I spend in warship of goulish gods Eating away my life Burning in smoke I try to find my way back to salvation Hopping God still seeks broken souls

One day is  forever The dawn to dusk of a sworn soul Every passing day changes the world In seen and unseen dimensions Nothing is less or so important Hopeless is hopeful and hopeful can be hopeless too There is nothing that happens for a reason Everything happens for no reason as a consequence of decisions Prompting the tilt to mundane watchfulness of thoughts words and actions Picking from the plethora of options The one best decision that won’t end up spewing miasma of disappointment In the gruesome attempt to shape tomorrow And at least one golden day in this mortal world

The wind whips over my eyes deposing ashes from the flames of my past kindled by a foolish decision Taste of ash stings my tongue amid irritation of from smoke emanating from burning and fading hope Everything seems to crumble even hope seems to have gotten a mortal smite But somehow in the desperate situation life stays alive Though wounded and burnt it emerges from the bottom of the rubble wishing to fly away from the dross I lift up my eyes to face the light of the sun covered by   acrid smoke Tears volunteer to clean my eyes though they never were enough to wash the memories of a glorious past Hope was gone to the world beyond All that was left with me was life that despair trying gnaw away Then life broke into a song That sent death and despair to a sound sleep Lifting hope from the bottom of desolate debris Much alive and as bright as a morning star And my heart said to my mind We will build our ancient ruin To the glory beyond yesterday

Life is a little too serious to be a game It is a little too playful to be a funeral It is not scripted to be a play I can relate life more to physics Every action has an equivalent reaction I can relate life more to a war Numerous battles before the final victory You have to know which ones to win And must understand what it means to tactically loose You must understand the art of war To go through life tactfully You must understand Tao Not to be carried away by victories You must be both the general and the sage You must understand God To understand love You must understand that life in one form is too short To know it all

He wonders how the journey will end It is long since he started the long walk to independence Independence is the one thing that seems so elusive Because it is natural to be dependent and interdependent ‘‘No man is an island’’ was wisely said But an island is all he desires to be Standing alone in the sea with the strength to stand the winds and tides of time In the quest for independence He realises that he has developed more interdependence He is needed more and more he needs Independence is such an evasive beauty One so hard to attain in this predatory world Finding middle ground is always an infinite aim Self-reliance seems a better goal Good judgement and unapologetically being alive Reaping the fruits of personal genius And suffering the wrath of life for folly Making mistakes and learning from them Respecting each one and varied choices Depending on personal judgement in the interdependence

The season is high The night is a light Secret scent of an ovulating bitch is trickling in the midnight air The weather is fair The alpha is timed out without no obvious heir It is obviously a night to show might The power of barks and bites Endurance and grace And the alpha will have it all Stuck in the womanhood of the price Nothing would separate the alpha from the price But the last drop And that is power

There is beauty where there is no beauty There is hope in the hopeless There is love where there is no love felt There is everything in nothing One day the scorched valley will bloom

Sad love song has on my brain the same feeling smoking tobacco has The two relax me however anxious I am They slow down the crushing train The world comes to a calm state They make me accept perishing in the moment Till I realise that I was not perishing Then I rise from the water I was drowning in Shake it off Start again Even if I feel I have nowhere to start from Understanding is everything I know this is not ok I know I am not ok but it is ok I fight the silent battles Sad love songs make it better Lonely walk in the dark lifts the burden away I walk it away Start again even if I don’t know where to start from My family is everything When I am broken and tired They are my medicine They know what I go through They understand my situation I just tell my bea, ''I am in dark days'' I say it off And start again Even if I don’t know where to start from…

Dad Kenya is sick, hospitalised in china Strangely she is walking and strong in her palliative ward Medically she is on her death bed Miasma of strange diseases Everyone is wondering how she is up I think she is just a strong woman She doesn’t want to let her children down Some of who would not care Those who would wait for her death and celebrate spoils of failure Before they too die like worms in a host they have killed Many doctors have given their expert opinion on her state of health They say that in her current progression she will not last long She may die in China Getting her back home will cost her children the last coin Dad I see her children Suffering from hunger and biting pain of drought But if they were taken to the skies Their tears would drown the earth and their wail would make thunders shy Dad, Kenya is sick Her children have writing her eulogy Chinese papers have started taking tenders for her obituary Even on cre

Dear Doctor, Willy is pathologically greedy I think his is a mental health emergency He needs urgent help or else he will eat his own children In fact he may eat his entire household Community, county and even the whole county Doctor, Willy is a pathological liar He lies everywhere even where bare eyes can see He say there is no one who is emaciated That the death of his brothers was not from malnutrition Yet we know that he ate all the food that could be eaten Doctor, Willy needs urgent help He has turned into a dangerous vermin He eats everything, he eats money, electric wires, railway lines Tar that would be used to make road, People are afraid, will eat them all, all of them to the last one Seriously, Willy is mad He has lost is conscience, he has lost his reason He is a sociopath, psychopath, kleptomaniac and more He has lost his humanity He is an alien, Doctor, Willy is drunk He is drunk and addicted to cold power His morals

She was just a passer by You did not know her name shame Neither did you know from where she came Nor  where she was headed It never bothered your gut when you took your gun and pointed it to her face She was just a passer by You did not know her struggles and her pain or the emptyness she was trying to sate All the same you cocked the gun and without reomorse asked her to drop her purse She was just a passer by Did you even wondered who could be waiting at home or wherever she was going Why he, she or it would be waiting and what it would mean if she never got home What was it that was going on in your mind when you picked her bag and pulled the trigger anyway? She was just a passer by Nothing to you more than a passer by It never crossed your mind that she could be a mother, a wife, a friend, or  the doctor who could save you from your death bed on the day you are cught in the crossfire She was just a passer by whom  you blew like wind out of earth

Walking in the dark I am a burning light The star of a risen God The reason to see God The war was fought in yore We bleed from the bruise of the fallen glory The story of the former holy The war goes on in the souls The war fought by dethroned greatness Holding on to hope No one know more than hope The   truth will be told post-mortem

If you have felt sad and thought life is meaningless If you have felt so down that you wished you died If you have ever felt time crawl and the pain in your heart never go Then you have felt what someone who is mentally unwell feels If you have felt scared And wished that the ground would open up and swallow you If you have felt like the whole world is looking at you with gnawing eyes Like the eyes are eating your flesh a way You have felt what someone with mental illness feels If you have felt too happy Then suddenly too sad for no reason If you have felt that no one can understand what you are going through If you have felt the happiness scare you and the sadness cut through you You have felt what a mentally ill person feels If you have felt out of your own control And the desires of your heart are out of your will You feel too weak against compulsion That bottle of liquor having more attraction than your strength to resist You try to keep

I stayed awake because I had a dream A dream that would never let me sleep A dream to be as great if not greater than the men I admired A dream to inspire a greater greatness than I would ever achieve I stayed awake because I had a dream A dream to speak to the world in words they would never forget A dream to be remembered among the sages of ages A dream to live more than an ordinary life A dream to inspire a greatness than I would ever achieve I stayed awake because I had a dream A dream to be a miracle A dream to heal wounded souls A dream to light broken bones A dream to wake life in dead dreams A dream to inspire greatness than I would ever achieve I stayed awake because I had a dream I stayed awake because I believed in the dream I stayed awake because I was walking the lonely path to the dream I stayed awake and dreamed of inspiring in someone else a greater greatness than I would ever achieve

It doesn’t have to be a perfect world With perfect humans, perfect climate and perfect times It doesn’t have to be perfect world With perfect love It just hast to be the world to be perfect They just have to be humans, climate and times we try to make perfect There have to be days we cry so that we treasure the memories of days we laugh There have to be days we fight to aspire for days we have peace There has be reasons to despair for us to know the audacity of hope There has to be a reason to doubt To appreciate the beauty of faith It has to be imperfect to aspire for the perfect Deep inside the seemingly imperfect There is a completely perfect

It all depends on the day Today he woke up feeling happy and alive Another he goes to bed thanking that it is done and wonders if he would still wish to wake up But life is life Somehow he wakes up no matter what he wakes up to Sometimes he wakes up feeling lost Other times he wakes up feeling alive Whichever day he wakes up in He looks up to tomorrow Tomorrow is a beautiful as that expensive gift he desires but is kept as a promise by father time He hopes it will be free of his pain and sorrow but filled with perfect joy So he sleeps and wakes up still dreaming of a brighter tomorrow Though there is an iota of possibility that it is utopia Still it feels better to hope He looks at tomorrow as a magic mirror upon which he sees his perfect self His sees today as the road to his perfect day so he starts walking in the right direction He has to make little effort to move to the direction where his better version lives He wants to see the pe