When Mugambi Nthiga performed this poem at Wamathai Sept I was wowed. I was like that is my poem, my anthem. That’s the person I always want to be. That’s why I had to post it on my blog. Enjoy.
Let It Never Be Said
Let it never be said that this warrior sold out
Coz to sell out is to be bought
And to be bought is to be owned
And to be owned is to cease to be yours
And cease to be you
And I’m not you, I’m me
To deprive this world of me
Is to shortchange the world, and you, and me
And in denying you me, I deny you He
And this gift
That He gave me
that the world may be drawn closer to the Holy Man they denied
The One that died
So that I don’t have to
In the first place.
Let it never be said that this warrior sold out
That he let go of his Paternal ties
For trophies that dazzled his eyes
Riding on hype and temporary highs
Not realizing he’s bastardizing
Everything he idolized
In the first place
Let it never be said that this warrior sold out
That he cast a glance at his humble armour
And despised it
Look at the stone tablet of his ideals
And excised it
Recognized the spirit within
And exorcized it
Rewound his flawless DNA
Into what the world said was AOK
Forgot his own standard
And molded it to what the world said it should be
Forgetting that it was in itself what it ought to be
Coz it got him to where he got to be
In the first place
Let it never be said that this warrior sold out
That he used his gift
Not to honour his maker
But to gather perks and paper
And conformed to the culture that pop dictated
And ate at its table
And bobbed his head to its rhythm
And stepped to its beat
Forgetting He, who put him on his feet
In the first place
Let it never be said that this warrior sold out
And exchanged something as eternal as finding his place here
For something as fickle as crowding our space with his face here
Who forsook his inherited portion
And gave in to inherent lust for forward motion
Who gave up spiritual robes
For earthly clothes
And the signature of the King
For diamond rings and bling-bling
Who refused to stand down and bow down
To He who accorded Him the right to throw down
Underground, low-down spoken truth
In the first place
Let it never be said that this warrior sold out
That this warrior bowed out,
That this warrior copped out,
limped out, opted out, tapped out
Wore out, fizzled out, gave out
His anointed treasure in exchange for
A trifling pittance
An inevitable riddance
A fledgling semblance
Or a passing transience
Because everything was all good,
And long before he stepped onto the battlefield
the battle had already been won
In the first place
Let it never be said that this warrior sold out
Let it never be said that this warrior sold out
Let it never be said that this warrior sold out
© Mugambi. August 2006
