It’s so calm today
Too quiet
Tense
Where are they?
She’s closed shop
He’s gone to exploit others
She’s scrounging for enough
To give him 50 shillings
For what was 20 bob last week
They’re hiding out
He’s gone to join the others
She’s crying for her sister
Who’s married one of them
A Kikuyu
They’re hiding in
A church
Full of scared mothers
Confused children
Worried fathers
He’s with the others
Who have spread their rage
Shared it with him
Who’s now sure
That the kerosene he holds
Should be drenching the people
Who he can no longer bare to see
So he throws it instead
Upon the dry grass around
The church
She hears them now
Her child cries before she does
Sensing her alarm
His father prays loudly
Pleas for God’s mercy
Drowned out by the growing shouts
The angry jeers of the others
Flames come, fathers go
The church’s Pastor
Runs, not hearing his six children cry
Only the racing fire behind him
His wife taught their Sunday school
Several years ago
Last year she tailored their shirts
This year their wives dresses
Last month they attended her nephew’s funeral
Last week she sold them eggs
Her whole life she was a Luo
Their President’s tribe
Now she’s just part of a mounting statistic
So they can have their justice
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