"/fs_img Poems

ANYBODY FOR POETRY?
FOR HOPE © Caroline Nderitu

Why does the sun rise
Why do we get up in the morning
Why is there breathe in our lungs
Why are we here
Hope
For hope we live

Not because the grass
Is green beneath our feet
Not because the clouds
Are calm above our heads
Not because the sunshine is warm
And the breeze cool on our sides
But for hope
For hope we live

Not because there are mangoes up the tree
But because there is seed in the ground
And there will be a harvest
Not because the well is wet
But look the clouds are gathering
And there will be rain
And rivers will flow
Rivers of joy
Rivers of peace
Of life
Hope
For hope we live

Why does a baby crawl
Why does a widow hum
Why does a builder
Place brick on brick on brick
Why does a fisherman
Cast his net upon a bare lake
Hope
For hope we live

Not because yesterday was full
Not because today is fresh
But because tomorrow is fertile
Hope
For hope we live
And hope does not
Let us down!


This is one of my favourite images
It puts questions in your head...
Or maybe answers?

THE HEALING BEGINS © Caroline Nderitu

It is not that the fig tree
Did not give its shade for free
Or that the smiling sky
Had been milked dry
It’s not that the robin chant
Had gone any flat or blunt
Nor that the mountain spring
Lost its trickle, stopped rippling
It wasn’t that.

It wasn’t that little cute flower cups
Hadn’t broken out of their winter naps
Or that the energized school children
Never played, danced or run
Nor that the ocean breeze
Had not touched with ease
It was not that parties were rare
There were more than I could declare
It wasn’t that.

It wasn’t that books of the years
Were speechless, with no ideas
Or that the melody of music
Had lost its meek mystic magic
It wasn’t that friends and family
Were abroad and I was lonely
Or that my pocket was upset
And my tummy distressed
It wasn’t that.

It was just empty
All empty
I could not reach
I could not be reached
I?
I who?
Who am, I?

I had not reached myself
How could anyone
Anything
Reach me then?

I began to search elsewhere
I began to search within!

In silence
In reflection
In understanding
In connecting
With a power beyond me
In drawing from the Ocean

I discovered within
A treasure of knowledge-
Unearthed
A wealth of love-
Trapped
A journey of purity-
Not began
A pillar of joy-
Blocked by ignorance.

And peace
In waiting
Within
A point of light
Peace was actually-
Me!
That was only the beginning.






THE MAKING OF TOMORROW By Caroline Nderitu
We wear these smiles
For a really good reason
Within us, enchanted hearts
Within us, renewed energies
Within us, awakened minds
We are singing the final stanzas
To the song of wishing
Wishing this wishing that
We are writing the closing chapters
To the book of trying
Trying this, trying that
We are getting ready to roll up the curtain
On the child of our dreams
Starehe Girls Centre
We have sung this song for too long
Let us arise, and show ourselves strong

42 years ago…
A special work was flagged off
The Starehe Boys Centre
The boys were ecstatic
It was school
It was a home
It was a family
It was a life
It was a whole new realm
Of possibilities
It engineered men of substance
Character
Men brandishing-
An admirable passion for excellence
An enviable proportion
Of Leadership skills
A laudable dedication
To community service
And the girls peered
From across the street
They wanted in
They felt left out
Not anymore
We have sung this song for too long
Let us arise, and show ourselves strong

We have made promises
Let us rise and keep them
We have nurtured hope
In the anxious hearts of deserving girls
Let us come through for them
We taken time to dream
Now, let us take time to build
Girls remain and suffer with their mothers
And soon they become mothers
And their daughters remain to suffer with them
Let us break this circle of suffering
We have sung this song for too long
Let us arise, and show ourselves strong

We have heard the deep cry
Of a brilliant girl in Kajiado
Who gets up, and off to the well
We have heard the persistent sob
Of a talented girl in Tharaka
Who gets up, and off to farm
We have heard the desperate whimper
Of an exceptional girl in Kibera
Who has nothing to get up to
And look…
Here comes Starehe Girls Centre
To the rescue
We have sung this song for too long
Let us arise, and show ourselves strong

Let us get out our cheque books
Let us search our pockets and wallets
Let us turn our hand bags inside out
Let us reward these brilliant girls
With the brilliant future
If Kenya is to blossom
It needs the bloom of the girls as well
This is the eleventh hour
The power hour
We have sung this song for too long
Let us arise, and show ourselves strong

Wamama tusilalele
Lale lale
Wamama tusilale
Bado mapambano

BEAUTY FINDS IT'S OWN SHAPE AND COLOUR... AND FORM.
And even among the rocks-
Life lives!

Sunset or Sunrise?
Or a brewing storm?



POEMS ARE MADE WITHOUT WARNING OR SIGNAL- YOU JUST NEVER KNOW HOW THEY WILL TURN OUT, UNTIL THEY ARE HATCHED!!!