Greatness.

Dear brethren,

We are gathered here,

To commemorate the death of,

Thomas Joseph Odhiambo Mboya.

He was a great man, tell me how great?

Is being born of black skin in a sisal plantation great?

Does going to a missionary school make you great?

Is negotiating the independence of your country at the age of 31 great?

So what, it was out on the streets of Nairobi,

So what, he went to the pharmacy that afternoon,

So what, he never knew his day had come,

So what, he never even made it home?

If I come to praise Mboya, will I not mourn him?

Tell me why he died, tell me how young?

He died for another to rise, is that true?

Why not be a threat, like medicine to a sick authority?

If my freedom is limited by the proximity of a bullet in public,

I want to be great.

I want the BIG MAN to come after me,

For then I will know, I am great.

By Sad Poet.