First Words Read online

  Expectant silence crawls into the courtroom

  The judge starts to read

  Tension is building up

  The accused deserves it

  He’s no person to be in the society, with people

  He should be incarcerated, hanged even

  The judge passes his judgment

  The accused is acquitted, innocent

  The incorrigible criminal, murderer, rapist

  Has bought justice once again.

  The Pantoum

  Egoism has found a dwelling place in them

  The riff-raff who think they make the world go round

  Wolves trapped in sheep’s body

  On the prowl in the forest of the people.

  The riff-raff who think they make the world go round

  Plunder, loot, and rape their own mothers

  On the prowl in the forest of the people

  Have found cause because have sufficiently pressed.

  Plunder, loot, and rape their own mothers

  Watch their brothers float in a flotsam of pauperism

  Have found cause because have sufficiently pressed

  They have no vector of guilt.

  Watch their brothers float in a flotsam of penury

  Kill them a slow painful death

  They have no vector of guilt

  What right have they?

  Kill them a slow painful death

  Burry them under the rubble of mansions they once lived

  What right have they?

  “They’re means to an end,” they chide sans ado.

  The Villanelle

  The rising sun is the only star in the sky azure

  Pine n’ iris only flowers blooming in my country garden

  The sun is the only star in the sky azure.

  I am in need; I’ve no friend in deed

  The moon behind the cloud’s a joyful companion

  Pine n’ iris only flowers blooming in my country garden.

  I live for the mere fact of my existence

  Make fun of a land so far away, of distance

  The rising sun is the only star in the sky azure.

  Pine n’ iris, water and sun are my friends

  Besides these four companions, I ask no more

  The rising sun is the only star in the sky azure.

  They say Nairobi is theirs to keep

  The city where the Head glory and lies fast asleep

  The rising sun is the only star in the sky azure

  Pine n’ iris only flowers blooming in my country garden.

  Mr. President

  Milestones you’ve covered

  Kudos Mr. President

  Economy’s growing

  Roads are craters no more

  Promised us heaven in hell

  Politics is thy game

  I just wonder, Mr. President

  Do you ever think of me, IDP, anymore?

  Lives lost for thy power

  Are they strangely abstract?

  Post-election violence fires consumed

  Homes where simple folk once lived

  Bodies of our parents buried under the ruins

  And earth is still wet, boggy

  With the blood of my brothers and sisters

  If I ever had a mother and father, I was orphaned then

  Good people they were; put you to power

  We, victims, still suffer in the IDP camps

  Perpetrators walk free today.

  I have nightmares by night

  Tell tales by day

  Next election would be no different, I fear

  Oh Mr. President, beloved father of the nation

  Please listen and understand.

  God Bless Kenya

  Grandeur and wealth, O God bestow

  Our heritage preserve, to the world show

  Dearest Almighty, your blessings let them flow.

  Bereft we are, deliver us from all evil

  Love show, we love you and forever will

  Entree into our hearts, descend from above

  Stay in our midst; our hope, our love

  Seraphic make us, the grace we don’ have.

  Kinship of wonderful people, a true nation

  Elegant scenery, beauty defies imagination

  Notwithstanding errs, peace abound

  Yahweh we believe, Your might astound

  Attain for us liberty, Thee freedom ring out loud.

  Acknowledgement

  First, I thank you, my dear reader, for having purchased this book and read it to the end. I appreciate your support. Kindly, be free to leave me a review.

  I wrote this book in a span of five years, from 2005 when the candle of poetry was lit in me by my high school English/literature teacher, Mr Paul Muthangya, to 2010. I wrote my first poem (Patience) and when he marked it, he liked it. I did not know then I would be a poet. Many thanks to Mr Paul Muthangya, life’s choicest be with you always.

  I would like to thank the organizers of the 2010 Nairobi International Book Fair (NIBF) and the National Book Development Council of Kenya (NBDCK) for their review, critique and judgment and finding this collection worth of the 2010 NIBF Literary Awards.

  I thank Sitawa Wafula, poet and mental health ambassador, and founder of My Mind My Funk, whose invitations to her Open Mic events built more confidence in me in poetry. Though I insist I am not a performer, your encouragement is beyond reckoning, Sitawa.

  I am grateful to Juliette Westbrook-Finch, Author of Poetry of Passion (for People with a Pulse) for showing me the way to the wonderful world of Indie publishing.

  Sincere thanks to all my fans and followers, especially a mysterious but romantic Krupali and Sheila Newton, who have always been a source of encouragement.

  Vincent de Paul

  About the Author

  Vincent de Paul won the 2010 Nairobi International Book Fair Literary Awards for this collection of poems, First Words. He also has written love poetry—Holy Emotions and Holy Crimes. Other works are Flights of Poetic Fancy, Flashes of Vice series which is a collection of flash fiction stories, and TWISTED TIMES: Son of Man, a novel. He has a Diploma in Comprehensive Creative Writing from the Writers Bureau, UK.

  Vincent has been published online on different websites and dailies in Kenya. In 2013 he was long-listed for the Nigerian Belgian-based writer, Chika Unigwe Best Short Competition and published in an anthology of New Age African poets, Black Communion, in Nigeria.

  Vincent de Paul is a member of the Bloggers Association of Kenya (BAKE), affiliate of Association of Independent Authors (AIA), and Naija Writers Community.

  For more of his works go to:

  www.poeticjustnes.com

  www.flashesofvices.com

  www.elovepoetry.wordpress.com

  ***

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