I Stayed Awake

You made me feel like a teenager

Falling in love for the first time

I stayed awake, with a knot in my stomach

Thinking beautiful thoughts

Of you and I, loving each other forever

You weren’t mine, but I loved your laughter

Your laughter spoke to my soul,

I stayed awake listening to its message

Willing myself to sleep in the wee hours of night

And yet, you weren’t mine

I played Trey Songz’s song

A thousand times

Because I thought ‘I couldn’t help but wait

‘I didn’t wanna come between you and your man

Even though I’d treat you better than he could’

You are still out there

Breathing the same air

But in seemingly different hemispheres

Yet your laughter is what my heart still hears

The Helpless Children

Smoke rises as homes are reduced to rubbles

Silent sirens awaken the dreams of the dead

Hauled into ambulance are the wounded

And children cry helplessly, forsaken by humanity

Mothers wailing perhaps beseeching God

Asking Him, hopelessly, why He chose the land

A land filled with land mines planted by human cruelty 

They cry to lull their indescribable pains

The bombs still fall, men still load ammunitions

Is freedom this expensive or is it a form of folly

Where dictators order airstrikes to replace rains

Because stones course through their veins

Is there an explanation to human cruelty?

Is there even an excuse to cruelly rob a man’s life?

Is there anything musical about a child’s wail?

Is there anything worth salvaging in ruins?

Gaze At Me With Those Naked Eyes

Gaze at me with those naked eyes

Strip me bare, to my skeleton

Consume me with you undying love

Embrace the chaos in my life

Charm the ruins, salvage the dreams

For if they are worthy for you,

They are to me too

The Footsteps

There were mornings, cold and bitter,

When I sat in that class with a pensive heart

(a heart that had since declared love you)

And my mind wondered what you’d wear

Would it be that tight dress,

The one that enhanced every feature in you

Or a mere trouser that did not arouse any lewd thoughts

But before I could conjure an image

My heart would catch your shoes tapping the floor

And synchronize your footsteps with its beats

All the while chanting, I am in love with you

And, beautifully, you never knew about it

Nobody Is Your Friend

In this city, Nairobbery, nobody is your friend

Everybody is seeking to rob you a few coins

Even if their greatest need is to cool their loins

At dimly lit brothels down at River Road

Do not befriend you mama mboga

Lest the friendship leads you to debt

Work hard, pay everything by your sweat

Here, friends keep a sword behind velvet gloves

In this city, befriend your family

They are the ones who are more concerned

And will part with a little, though hard earned

To see you through a city without friends

In this city, be your own consigliore

Advise yourself accordingly

Lest prurient appetites bring you to ruination

Because you will cry alone, bitterly

But if you must make a friend

Be friends with your money

Be friends with your source of money

Save and spend your money wisely 

The Abyss Of The Soul

The world stretches revealing an abundance,

Of nothingness,

The blank canvass, the empty pages

Stare with a monstrous glare

As if daring, as if about to devour

And the brain becomes a maze

Entangled like wires, like earphones inside a pocket

Then everything becomes blank

Empty and desolate

Lets live in this moment

Lets live in this moment,
Lets dance with the tune
And enjoy the moonlight
Keep those worries for tomorrow,
 Lest you miss on this beautiful night.
Keep your eyes on the scenery,
The stars fighting with all their might
For their space in the sky
Lighting up our soul on their magnificient sight,
Twinkle twinkle little stars, make the sky so beautiful
And melt our hearts with its amazing beauty,
Making us wish that the night never ends
And Even if it does, the imprinted scene will always make us smile,
Before the night ends
Let live in this moment.

By Diana Rop