Life

When you are 4, yes the first day at the kindergarten, school becomes a prison, so you cry but later when you realize you are a pupil, you wipe your eyes,

At 10, you are an engineer, yes you already made many friends

A pilot you want to be, not for the love of heights but for a brighter future

A doctor you want to be, not for the love of drugs and piercing through man’s skin, you see doctor is quiet a title

You discover physical features, you discover careers and the future more colorful than your crayons

At 14 you discover your body

What begins to disturb you is not the future anymore but the size of your loins

The moment you look on the mirror, you see no pride for this far, for pimples won’t let you

Child becomes a disgusting word to be addressed with

You are not driven crazy but adverts on fry mate cooking oil now that you need your own mate to fry the rest of your life

At 18, the much anticipated age

You realize that alcohol is bought

You realize that all your arrogance can fit in an identity card, that even your muscles, moustache and eloquence cannot intervene for you before oncoming police officers than your ID

You make resolutions of becoming anything that life ordains you to be

You realize that the only place you can escort your friends is to the shop and maybe college through your eyes 

You realize that the size of the loins is not a subject in the form4 certificate, so there is no score for it

At 20 you already know every street by name in the heart of the city

You still become creative, yes you discover that there is “kazi mtaani”

You realize the smell of garbage is not that choking as the smell of being broke

You realize that the only loyal friends you remain with are your stomach and eyes to witness the size of every plateau of this life

You realize that “mjengo” is not as tough as being reminded you are no longer a child

At 24 you curse your mind for demanding freedom stay alone in a house fully furnished with fate and sheer opportunities to enjoy being alive, so you miss being a child when everything was being provided for

You realize that you make friends by the basis of your pocket size

You realize that the only people that call you are your mum and your debtors

So your phone is more less a toy

You realize that life plays hide and seek everyday

You realize that youthfulness minus money is empty living

At 28 you are confused because you are not willing to become a nun or a priest and also not willing to marry

What disturbs you is seeing the people you grew with married

You become distressed, so you go to revivals and become religious, a sign of swallowing ones pride

At 40 you become a motivational speaker,

You talk from experience

What you realize is that people do understand from their levels of perception and not the number of books one reads

What disturbs you now is not the number of friends but the amount of school fees and bills

Here discoveries wait for you, yes retirement plans

At 60 care and security are not your words but the gifts you offer to your children and grandchildren

The only people you call here are your children to keep track of their safety

The only thing that disturbs you is the size of your estates, if all you have can fit in a will

At 70, yes it God’s grace now, you acknowledge it

Here you don’t choose friends by numbers, yes few age mates scattered like oases in the desert

Here you wait… Yes you wait for food to be served

Thank you

By James Musau

#poetictuesdays