Dear Mum

Dear Mum
(Presented on the occasion of Parent' s Day at Homa Bay High School,October, 1996)

Dear Mum,
I wanted to write you a letter
A poem that would tell
of my first days in this great school
Of my joys and sorrows
away from home
Of my first encounter
with learned gentlemen
And these highly educated
sophisticated lady teachers
Oh, how I wanted to write you a poem!

Dear Mum,
I wanted to write you a letter
A beautiful poem
That you would forever remember
For its rhythmic flow
and wordly grace and shine
A poem of my first meeting
with burning Bunsen burners
My pleasure at rediscovering
the laws of physics
My pride of belonging
to this great institution
And my hope of becoming
a great someone
Ah, how I wanted to write you a poem!

Dear Mum,
I wanted to write you a poem
A beautiful poem that would tell
Of how I learnt to tie my tie
Like Kantai can tie and untie his tie
And how the big boys bullied me ,
And the quarrelsome cooks croaked at me
Like Oliver Twist of the book
And the perfect prefects pestered me
How the tireless teachers tortured me
With wild cats and black cats
And white cats and more cats
And how I quickly ran out of pocket money
And missed your dear delicious cooking
Ah, how I wanted to write that poem!
Dear Mum,
I wanted to write you a poem
A poem that would be the envy of Shakespeare
A poem of bad tempered teachers
A poem of thanksgiving
To our beloved principal
A poem of thanksgiving to you, my mummy,
For all you did and continue to do

But for now, mummy,
accept this simple poem
Till I learn enough English
Then, Mummy,
I'll write you the real poem.
That will make you think of Soyinka.

otienoamisi