like the sea and its waters...

In my high school days, or rather in my mother's high school days (coincidentally, it was the same school) there was this man who would come to adjudicate during their music festivals and events and what-nots. In my days one of his poems, about my favourite, was part of our coursework. His name's Samuel Waigwa Wachira (yeah, that was to avoid using the tense, I have no idea whether he is still alive given his age when  mum was in high school). In and around 1998 I watched 'My Best Friend's Wedding' (and loooooooooooooooved it!!!) and that was the first time i heard the song "You fill up my senses", just a few lines, but it stuck with me till I was redoing the movie last year and i finally got it for real (thank God for the Internet, though it still took me forever). It was during those witch-hunts, armed with only the last line and a tune distorted by time that ma told me about Waigwa Wachira, that the only time she heard that song was when he sang it at their school back then, i was actually really surprised that she knew the lyrics still, especially cause all i knew was that last line, 'come love me again...'

But I digress, this afternoon I've been thinking and remembering that poem, and I just thought I'd share it. The ladies will probably swoon, the men will probably be amused (guy told me when something makes ladies swoon, it'll probably just amuse them). Nonetheless, any lover of poetry will truly appreciate the candour and simplicity with which this most incredible piece is written. Mr. Wachira, wherever you may be, I wish I had met you, you inspire me...

I have seen the sun rise and set

with a volcanic passion of flaming orange,

And I have thought of a love that once rose and set

like the sun in the sky

I have watched the trees at sunset

And mountains at dusk with purple blankets

And soft clouds of ink,

and softly, I have thought of you.

I have stood on the ferry in the Indian Ocean

And have breathed the sweet scented air

that God gave to the sea

And I have thought of the fragrance of a love that shone so brightly

like the stars in the sky

I have sat barefoot on the rocks by the lake

Wondering what went wrong

Wishing I could hold you

Knowing that I have lost you

Feeling my thoughts fly

 like a bird across the sea

On the lonely wings of love, far…

Far away from home and you

And as I walk the sands of a shore

that out feet used to know

My eyes hurt with unshed tears

My soul turning as the wind calls your name

For I miss you desperately

And I long for you with every breath I take

If I could touch and hold the sun

I’d give it to you

If I could plant flowers in the sand and make them grow

I’d plant them just for you

For I have kissed you when you cried

and tasted the salty blue turbulence of your soul

And if in my turn

I should give up and die

or simply break down and cry

Forgive me lady dear

and help me dry my tears

For it is the cry of the fisherman

After the sea is gone

You are like the sea

and its waters to me

and I have loved you dearly

more dearly than the spoken word can tell…

Like the  sea and its waters - Samuel Waigwa Wachira