Lakayana's Reflection

In my boyhood, said Lakayana,

Looking at the horizon

Where skyscrapers met the eye

Made remember

Once upon a time a spear

His spear sticking outside his Manyatta hut

All went with the river

Forgotten as the river.

I used to watch my reflection in the water while the cows drunk.

I killed an attacking lion once on the plains

All the girls danced around me then

I became a man and

A man could choose

Then.

Ah, in my youth, he sighed,

Straightening his striped tie

Stretching and yawning –

Lions still roamed the plains

Men were noble and wise and

Women were women and

You could see your reflection in the water.