Monday, April 7, 2008

Rebel

“They say you mustn’t use it you mustn’t use it coz it will make you rebel… against what!?” Bob Marley.


Rebel against the lies. That one should have a whole lake to himself when a million of us scramble for a puddle. Not that he will use all the water in the lake, not that he needs all the water in the lake and not that we don’t need the water in the lake. But that he is ‘hard working’. He works so hard so that he can have a whole lake to himself while others scramble for a puddle.

That is how success is measured. Your ability to take what you don’t need from those who direly need it. To tell the people that I have what you want though I don’t need it and you must wag your tails in order for me to throw bits into your direction. That is a success story! They call it an exclusive lifestyle. Excluding the majority from having the basic necessities and heaping everything onto your self.

And when we try to create some time to think about it, whenever we try to open our eyes in order to see our shelter-less roofs, our cloth-less butts and our hollow stomachs they say you mustn’t. Whenever we try to look at the millions they have stolen from us to own unused bungalows, to clad in fabric that is more expensive than our life’s worth and to feed their cats what we can never put on our tables, they say you mustn’t.

And why is this? It’s because they know it will make us rebel. Rebel against the lies. That one should be considered great for denying others the pleasures of this life. That greatness no longer lies in brotherhood, it lies in the individual. That one can only be proud of eating to his fill when someone else sleeps hungry. That people can only recognize the richness of one’s clothing because others are walking naked. That people can only be dazed by one’s bungalows because others live in paper-bag houses.

They don’t want us to rebel. This is because through a rebellion I will not take a whole field to myself while others ‘squat’ in a corner. My friends, family and my people will all share this field, and we will play together on our field holding hands and singing in unison the songs of our fathers. We will run after our lovers and make love in the field among the flowers. 


But since they don’t want this, they say we mustn't,  we must never see the truth because it will make us rebel… against them!

Wednesday, April 2, 2008

Her lot.

Searching my heart with her illiterate eyes
Calling to me with her unschooled tongue
Touching my life with her untaught fingers
Is Nje of the forbidden class.

Teasing me in her kith's allure
Dancing to me in her kin's steps
Charming me with her kindred's charms
Is Nje of the forbidden tribe.

Sinking with me into illicit intimacy
Capsizing with me under proscribed unions
Rekindling in me animal energies
Is Nje of the forbidden ways.

©2008 Otiato Opali
'Live until you die!'

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Though I might look like your common guy next door, there's more to me than meets the I. If you get the chance to meet the I, you will find out more about me.