The time you lived...

Tell me about the time you lived

that one time you felt everything

when rainbows created butterflies in you

the dust from raindrops tasted good 

the tapping of rain pellets on your window

how you counted each one after another

Tell me about the time you lived

when muddy puddles sparkled your heart

moonlight on an empty street healed your soul

that one time when you climbed trees

and ate java plums while hanging on its branches

Tell me about the time you lived

chasing after the sound of the posho mill in injerekha

balancing shimwero on your head for a chance at small talks

or how the village came alive with disco matanga

and you created large bonfires dancing late into the night

when caution was in the winds and the world was yours

Tell me about the time you lived

remind me about the stories of Indeche the humpman

stories that sent chills through the village and fear in your veins

only to realize that the ancstors were protecting you 

because they knew you had a different assignment 

you needed to go out and be a Nandiri, fulfilling dreams

Tell me about the time you lived

telling endless stories by the maika with kukhu

sleeping in the same hut with firewood, cows and chicken

and yet experiencing a peace irreplaceable to date

grounding yourself with the earth and all in it

when nature protected you so you could live

giving you memories to remind you to always come back

Tell me about the time you lived

soaking your feet in the flowing rivers of mulwakupa

hailed by mutarakwa trees aligned like street lights

how about the early morning msamaria mwema bus rides

with mud wedged shoes from the red clay sugar soils of Mumias

protected by the 'dangerous' cane cutters of the twilight 

strutting into Kisumu town at dawn squeezed in a pouring bus

reaking of market sellers and fish mongers headed to nam Lolwe

just in time for the first streaks of sunlight

Tell me about the time you actually lived...