“You are just a boy. What do you know?”
I reason and reckon with the aged,
For the tears in my youthful eyes is as pepper,
Fire in my heart, ablaze in my bones,
I keep holding back, it's consuming my flesh inside out,
My hands are tight, my lips clinched,
Oh how I ache, to kick the poop out of these nincompoops,
My, oh my, if I could ascend the tallest rock and sound a trumpet to my elders,
But ayaaa!!!....does the bleating of a sheep threaten a lion?

Is it just me or have the eyes of the old gone blurry?
Who will bind this beast that has robbed our society?
Who will say “Depart” to the demon that has demolished our bonds?
Adam against rib, mothers and daughters yearning for a seat at the high table,
Modernity against tradition, the law against justice, the learned and the untutored alike,
It's a jungle of blacks, hoofs and boots clash as dust of shame report to the creator,
I watch from afar, as bullets fly amiss,
The hunter hunting dead meat,
Yet still I hold my tongue,
For I am just a boy, what do I know?

BANG BANG BANG!!! Another one down,
Bitter words between Adam and adamant as the Abels recoil in fear,
Poetic justice, as all roads lead to Luzira,
“I am emancipated” as homes tear apart,
Another vote rigged, Corruption at its peak,
Promises of transformation turned into transaction,
My sisters devoured alive, mbu simple rape,
“Tuition must fall” as tear gas tears eyes,
Men in combat clobber, batter and scatter,
Oh son of your mother, Speak! How long will you hold your tongue?
Preach, condemn and damn these latter day saints,
But oh, who will heed!
For I am just a boy. What do I know?

But no more to this slumber. For I am come with javelin words,
Mama Naki, there is no need to destroy all the bee hives just because of a sting from one bee
Almighty Olobo, some days you might be the pigeon but on another you'll be the statue,
Attention! Stop wrestling in the mud you pigs,
Put aside your surnames and let your son name you,
For the wisdom of age has turned you into a bunch of turkeys,
And I your son, summons you to the village square,
To flog you with flagrums of sanity,
To spit on you bitter herbs of impartiality,
Till you...
“SHUT UP! ”, age roars
“You are just a boy. What do you know?”

But indeed I know nothing,
Pardon my bitter tongue my elders,
Am just a lad born 'last night' who still crawls in my faeces of ignorance,
I only crave to walk in the footsteps of right, not wrong,
How long shall we continue to pay a deaf ear to these tragedies?
The night is far spent and day break is upon us
“cock-a-doodle-doo”,my rooster voice crows
Awaken, sermonize, evangelize and moralize,
Walk the talk, for your footsteps I follow,
For what you see while sitting, I can never though I ascend Rwenzori
For I am just a boy, what do I know?

© Okene Ivan Lawson P'Achan
#RaisingAMan
SPOKEN WORD