Today, this morning, I looked into the mirror,
And a stranger looked back.
A bald stranger with a thin greying mustache
And crow’s feet like a spider’s web.
An old man with tired eyes and blotched, yellow skin.
As I looked I wondered
Where did all the years go?
Where did all the days go?
Who is this looking back at me in the mirror?
Only a day like yesterday I was sitting
On Guka’s lap, a bubbly tot of four.
Biting everything, laughing, crying, farting
And sipping from his Muratina glass
Making faces at the awful bitter-sweet taste,
Before blacking out, and peeing in my sleep
Where did all the days go?
The sunsets and the mornings
The dry days and the rainy ones.
Where did all the people who loved me go?
Dadii. Guka. Cucu. Uncle Muthungu. Tata.
And all their friends, a motley crew
Of cons, and moochers, and true bloods.
Who all used to pet and pamper me
Throwing me into the air,
Making me fly without wings.
Where did all my childhood friends go?
Waweru. Kimani. Wairimu. Nene. Muricu.
Why did you all die so young
Leaving me so alone and distressed?
Oh, how I yearn for those simple and carefree days
When the bleating of the sheep awakened me.
When the air was full of the scent of Eucalyptus smoke
And the morning dew was an interesting plaything.
Perhaps its the folly of an old man
The nostalgia of one who’s juices of passion
Have all but dried up.
Even so I wonder who’s the stranger
Lurking behind the glass, sad, old.
The one looking back at me in the mirror.
(Dedicated to @gashwin, @Meria Mata @mabenda4 and all Ktalkers over 50, and who through the years have been witness to the ebb and flow of life, the gentle grinding of our bodies by the ceaseless sands of time. We need not fret about being mortal. It is enough that we passed this way like those most loved and now sadly lost.)
Wengi wangependa ama walipenda kufika age yako na hawajaona…shukuru mungu umefika hio umri. Life expectancy ya mkenya is 35yrs Wakenya wengi hawatacelebrate their 40th bday.i may be wrong. Wewe shukuru mbuyu
I keep disappearing for a while but I am as hardy as Mugabe. Am gonna be around until I see the 10th president of Kenya…there will be several one-term presidents along the way of course…
My cuzo …a chic is turning 40 this year na hajaolewa na hana mtoto. Ni wale watu vitabu. Nika snr employee anayekula mshande poa na bado yy ujifanya manyanga. Mini ndio zake na ku rave
I have several relas like that…childless women who spent their 20s and 30s pampering their sistas’/kazins’ children who are now teenagers and don’t want to spend time with their ‘ageing’ aunts.
The desperation am seeing, when reality hits them that time has run out for them to have their own children and the ones they dotted on don’t want to see them, is heart-breaking…
My suggestion to women is, if you hit 35 and are not married, get at least 2 children even with Wafula the gardener…
I am 30+ and glad of it good tidings are coming my way. I know its the season of growing old and watching my son reach his early teens will crown it all.
mtu akufe pole pole bira complain.
huyu jamaa ashawahi nunua kuma chiringi moja pale karumaindo(when nairobi was nairobi no aids in sight.)
kuma zilikuwa zinawekwa nje ya lodging,mwanamke ameketi amepanua miguu. you choose the one you want na kuingia lodging. if you ever felt a burning sensation when urinating tafuta dr patel and the rest of the quacks for injection.
DONT ASK HOW I AM SURE OF THIS #I AM 25#