Tales we tell

Please make us promises you won't fulfill, 

We are stupid. 

Please tell us lies, 

We are deaf. 

Please make us reason, not with our heads but with our hearts.

Please bind our emotions into jumbled cords,

We won't sort them out. 

Please lead us,

We are blind. 

Please take the fall, 

We stand blameless. 

Make our choices, make our children 'choiceless'. 

We will stand, bow, aloof in prayers.

We will tell of how we have been deceived. 

We will tell of how we have been raped. 

We will tell of how we were left without a choice. 

We will tell of our bravery and courage. 

Of lightning fires and aiming stones. 

Of burning tires and shooting bullets.

Of cutlasses and machetes; and daggers and broken bottles.

Of blood and courage; and tears and sorrows. 

Of how we were deceived.

But we will never speak, 

Of how we recognized your lies,

From the moment they were off your tongue. 

We will never speak, 

Of how we stood aloof and did nothing.

Never!

Of how we watched you lead us. 

Never! Of how guilty we are. 

Never! Of blood and tears; and widows and children

Never! Of how we tore down what our fathers built by blood and sweat.

Never! Of how we are left standing in the open, 

Ashamed, naked and abandoned.

We will only speak of how we were deceived.

Of how blameless we are.

Amanda Bisong