WHY DID I MARRY NJERI?

I don’t even know how to describe her eyes

When she looks at me when I arrive at 6.30 pm

Sometimes Njeri says a word or two

Sometimes she’s just as quiet, like she’s absent

I know she’s counting days when she’ll say,

‘ENOUGH IS ENOUGH’

She ran down the business I had started for her

I did it for my undying affection for her

And she sunk it, thousands of shillings down the drain

Surprisingly, without any guilt or remorse

Tell me, doesn’t she have the capability to finish me?

The first thing she asks in the evening is money

The money I have toiled for in the baking sun

And if I beat the curfew, which I often do

She kisses me like she’s afraid of being seen

Like we are two teenagers hiding

And then she cooks that tasteless food of hers

I wonder where my money goes

At night she turns her back on me

She’s ever tired, and with a headache

I haven’t inquired if she’s cheating around

Though I am too scared to suspect she’s cheating

But I have heard of a young man

I know even the government introduced free education

And it’s illegal to deny a young man education as my Njeri does

I dread being doused with hot water

I dread being openly stripped of my dignity

As a respectable member of the society

And as a loving husband to Njeri