Okinda Writes

Poetry by @RickOkinda - Loving sunsets, gorges and hills, taking pictures of such and writing about them. #OkindaWrites

[Okinda Writes @OkindaWrites]

I don't know what exactly poetry is, but somewhere in the definition there are people and places, sunsets and gorges, colours and words, memories and dreams, love and death, ... and most central, feelings.

-Rick Okinda, 2021.

[Okinda Writes @OkindaWrites]

My father has rested,
Where does Sonship go from here?

[Okinda Writes @OkindaWrites]

THE LEGEND THAT IS MY FATHER

A worrier came to my life
held my arm through woods n' tides
tought me the creed of christ

He's king with soldiers in his sons
In me he has a prince and noble son
In him a father with a soldier's heart

I live to become
The legend that is my father

[Okinda Writes @OkindaWrites]

S T R O N G

Bridge over London's great river
Storms when the oceans rise
Hills after centuries of erosion
Death when the best is called
Love when it breaks its banks

Emotions run the stream of time
Bond between two grows stronger
Imperfection fades, agape blooms

[Okinda Writes @OkindaWrites]

B R O K E N

Painted on the sky
a canvas of dreams
and every rosy art

Its abilities midget
for far located summits
only thoughts travelled

Less of wings on broken tree
without patron and no prey
a paradise not meant to be

[Okinda Writes @OkindaWrites]

Amboseli

Take me back to Amboseli
To the lake by the sunset
In a world isolated from men
Hidden at the feet of lofty hills
There my family is waiting
There I'm homing for summer
On a delicate voyage to oblivion
To meet, hug n' kiss my beloved
To cast a larger shadow of love

❤

[Okinda Writes @OkindaWrites]

Little One,

Little one of my father's house
One with whom we played to dusk
With whom I shared my wardrobe
Growing up to folktales by mama
Now gentleman with a brave heart
Man made of corn n' holy words
Industrious in the sun n' rains
Even in the crown of January Prince

HBD👑

[Okinda Writes @OkindaWrites]

Brother,

Welcome to the mountain top
Here where excellence resides
N' smiles take the academic curve
To pause n' behold how beautiful
The view of success can be
To gallop air n' recharge the mind
Ahead of another hike to new peaks
Of making our planet a better home

Congrats 🎓

[Okinda Writes @OkindaWrites]

Skies came closer the head
Smiles made more the cheers
Seasons added summers
Sunrises started sooner
September begot a Prince
Clothed in the grace he's made of
Shielded with an arrow held
N' made of Africa's folk tales

Happy birthday to me 🎁

[Okinda Writes @OkindaWrites]

Things that should be short.
- Santuella.

[Okinda Writes @OkindaWrites]

THE LEGEND THAT IS MY FATHER

A worrier came to my life
held my arm through woods n' tides
tought me the creed of christ

He's king with soldiers in his sons
In me he has a prince and noble son
In him a father with a soldier's heart

I live to become
The legend that is my father

[Okinda Writes @OkindaWrites]

@GalanaPen @kenyapics Ni jambo la kusikitisha mno.

[Okinda Writes @OkindaWrites]

Why Would an Elephant Hide?

Feels lonely in the grassland
Scared of what battles may be
Not to be seen by them that rule
Finding cover under tree
Thinks he's slender than it's stem
Yet stands prominent even in fear

He hides from his own shadow
From the size of his eyes n' ears

[Okinda Writes @OkindaWrites]

A January Sunset

The final round of a January sunset
Darkness is fading in an orange sky
Horizons are coming closer to earth
Grazers of dry grasslands are in awe
Their gaze at the falling sun is long
Their walk on plain lands is paused
To the thril of seeing January no more

[Okinda Writes @OkindaWrites]

Table of Dignity

Her shape is still round n' beautiful
She's light though of chocolate skin
Spots of healing wounds too many
Still wounded but unbroken in faith
The fragile one of my father's clan
Daughter to an uncourteous society
Sobbing for her place on the table of dignity

[Rick Okinda @RickOkinda]

Art is when thoughts find creative illustrations. @AlexChamwada

[Okinda Writes @OkindaWrites]

Tomorrow might not happen
Rains might fail n' rivers dry
I've seen a lazy sun setting
Beasts of savannah starving
Birds losing homes to furniture
Snow is melting on great hills
All for the affluence of man
All for profits that buy no peace

[Okinda Writes @OkindaWrites]

I'd send a breakfast radio salaam
That all world may learn of the news
Of a princess turning a year old
In the wake of morning I'd text you
From a branch of tree in Bungoma
About a rising sun that's half yellow
I'd paint you before sixteen
N' caption it with a red ribbon 🎁

[Okinda Writes @OkindaWrites]

AFRICA YONDER

I admire the Africa yonder
One that overcame bias
Of the girl n' her father's farm
Of access to school n' choices
I admire her fertile lands
Her riches in milk n' corn
The Africa beyond Berlin boders
A haven of peace that once was
The true cradle of man n' beast

[Okinda Writes @OkindaWrites]

PRIDE OF FIVE WITH A KING

They call us wild when they visit
Because that's who we've become
A pride of five with a king
Our mother, a hunter of skill
The grassland, our home of fortunes
We love adventure as they do
We sun our skin in the day
We never cease to rule the jungle

[Okinda Writes @OkindaWrites]

Born with a soldier's heart
The courageous one of our clan
He loves poetry n' folktales
Tales from our fathers of Samia
Like our father he is gentle
He is soft spoken n' kind
He is dark, deep n' African
His chin rough n' voice horse
He is a little older than our last fight
#HBD❤

[Okinda Writes @OkindaWrites]

@restored_80 @kenyapics @RickOkinda Thanks for your kind sentiments. I'll write more and more.

[Okinda Writes @OkindaWrites]

WEST OF POKOT

Tales of Pokot were full of pain
I read about war and trouble
About a people with no peace
Until I saw the West of Pokot
A landscape of green valleys
Its lands split by clean streams
There I saw the sun shinning
And people living as one creation