Inspired by the gallant women that contributed to the independence struggle in Kenya against British imperialism and dedicated to all women who continue to resist against the oppressive neo-colonial regimes.
Engulfed in despair
Her present life empty
Meaningless
She turns to the great mountain
To call on Mwene Nyaga
For strength
To resist
Her oppressors.
She’s possessed
With nightmares that haunt
Yet daydreams of freedom
From drowning
In unending indignity
In the deep well of violence.
Disarmed from power
Of the pen
She picks a supplement,
The gun,
Finally a chance
at freedom
in her hands.
Detained at Kamiti
Later Gatamayu camp
Set-up for the hard-core
Women of ‘unsound mind’
To cover up
Abuses in the camp
Her head remains held high
Her whole being without fear
Breaks the chains of incarceration
She can not compromise!
But incarcerations
Abductions
Torture
And Murder
Of Patriots
Is admission
By the crumbling regime
That the heroic masses
Are playing their historical task;
To defend the motherland.
She longs to walk
Along the winding paths,
In the beautiful valleys
Of the homeland
To experience as a free woman
The noise of the waterfalls
The beautiful sounds of the birds
She longs
For an independent homeland.
Only just struggles win!
Kinuthia Ndung’u
Kiambu County.
Sunday 22nd September.