Kinna

21 Days/21 Poems: Grass will Grow by Jonathan Kariara

Grass 640 20/365 Grass by Waldwichtel, CC-BY-2.0

An East African poet for today’s Another 21 Days/21 Poems.

Grass will grow

If you should take my child Lord
Give my hands strength to dig his grave
cover him with earth
Lord send a little rain
For grass will grow

If my house should burn down
So that the ashes sting the nostrils
Making the eyes weep
Then Lord send a little rain
For grass will grow

But Lord do not send me
Madness
I ask for tears
Do not send me moon hard madness
To lodge snug in my skull
I would you sent me hordes of horses
Galloping
Crushing
But do not break
The yolk of the moon on me.

– by Jonathan Kariara (1935 – 1993)

It’s been twenty years, Uncle Jonathan and  grass did indeed grow.  But we remember always: the house at Westlands,  the food and juices, the generosity, the charm, the jokes, your love, your love and our happiness.  You, everyday.

18 comments

  10. I love this poem!!!!! for me it is those pieces of literature that stays with you for days, i did not forget not even a single word, w performed it at the music festivals in 2009 while i was at the Mary Leakey Girls High School. It has been with me for years.

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  11. I have loved this piece of poetry from hgh sch days 2date.One of the great inspiration in what av bn writing. Am proud of you Kariara.

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