Oh! The Mighty Gentlemen
7 min readBy Adol Akuei, Eldoret, Kenya
August 12, 2017 (SSB) — This poem expresses the plights of young people especially the male-man in staying with their closest members of the extended family. It’s one of the thrilling poems that bring to the surface what an average gentleman quietly go through in absence of their biological parents, in pursuit of the life success in the distant land far away from their homeland. Despite all the challenges, the male-man must live and there go the society, 2017 draft.
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In the outskirts of the dreaded city full of insecurity and a death hunting human beings,
They were welcomed with open arms in amidst of this disaster that caught almost everybody unaware with arms up and heart throbbing,
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She didn’t raise a white flag in such a momentous gaiety to have received and cared for them
They were in lots, all of them were men, dominating her home in Harlem like soldiers armed to teeth like a Cheetah in a Spanish arena dominating the battlefield,
A squad you can call it, carrying with them bags and their objects of survival
They were all gentlemen though, who have taught themselves manners of living in their hood
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Oh, the mighty gentlemen!
They know how to survive for the fittest in the damn society at any point of life
A society full of cursed souls, full of women who are diabolical,
Women who can easily get driven off by greed and selfishness at the sight of any person marching to their home seeking help, leave alone food
Women who are deeply rooted in jealousy and hatred with venom for any kind of a relative that wants to live with them temporarily, just temporarily
Touching with their fist the burning emblem of life with rumors and retardation
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Oh, the mighty gentlemen!
Their strife, those gentlemen is never at the burrow soil of the rabbits
Imagine, the woman catering for them in the world where they were ignored by others, wakes up in the very chilly morning to prepare them a wholesome breakfast
A sumptuous and tantalizing breakfast that would last them a day without thinking much about lunch,
The lunch also comes underway after breakfast,
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A very humble and hardworking woman who has taught her children manners of living, she was indeed a mother to them, the gentlemen, who have left their biological mothers back home
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Oh the mighty gentlemen!
What a good life they enjoyed there, not just eating and sleeping,
But feeling solace in humanity and the need of being loved as a human being after facing rejection in the hands of the same relatives that pretended to care for them sometimes back, what did they care for?
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None of them heard even a single syllable in that domicile, leave alone the insults that most women are well known for, hurling it on their husbands and in-laws
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This woman deserves their respect in totality like presidents and kings
Many of these guys, gentlemen if you like, were once held in captivity of the so called, “pretended care” from their relatives
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They were once victims of discrimination, hatred, and agendas of rumors in the women public talk, under the damn care of their relatives but not like under the care of this woman, where they find comfort,
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In their own cottage under the care of their own “woman” in those days,
Their uncle’s wife, call it mother if you like
They never felt peace,
They never had freedom of expression and owning anything though they are in their closest home,
They were held in contempt for no apparent reason,
They were thrown out of the house in the middle of the tranquil and serene night to sort themselves out,
They were sent packing in a masterminded kind of business, to live under the care of a Samaritan woman after they were sacked,
Yet they were human beings like any other living creature on earth,
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Oh the mighty gentlemen in fact,
Who can even get married anytime in case they messed up with your daughter!
Hell was better for them than a glorious heaven
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They slept on mats in a tattered sitting room succumbing to the cold breeze of the chilly weather but they never complained,
They were always insulted but the insults never broke a bone in them, so they persevered,
Though the sharp and unavoidable words that hit them from that woman depressed them, they never fight or beat her up like a drum,
They stuck to themselves leaving the talkative women in ignorance like a plague
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Oh, mighty gentlemen!
They were not beggars in any way, that was their right to stay there as the traditions and customs dictated
They were in pursuit of the deep roots of education like any other child in that foreign land
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Oh, mighty gentlemen!
With their agility and patience like that of a cobra, they moved on,
Because they were told by their elders that, “a hunter in pursuit of an elephant doesn’t stop on the way and start throwing stones at birds”
No justice prevailed unto them but they pressed on in those hard rocks of that woman,
Their uncle could not hearken unto their plights, thinking that all was just an accusation hurled on his wife just to make her identity and personality lost,
Always favoring his family a great deal leaving the young men deserted
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Until they resorted to abandoning that place, they left the Samaritan’s woman’s home and went to a ghetto where life favored them a great deal, since the Samaritan’s woman left for another country,
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Oh, the mighty gentlemen!
And here they are again in the hands of a decent woman after leaving their ghetto in amidst of a calamity that could bring death and death is a closure to their life dreams and aspirations,
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Where songs of freedom and comfort are sung on a daily basis as they keep living in peace, crown with love, care, and unity,
Where they are involved in discussing critical matters of life in good faith though it is a hand to mouth kind of life!
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In fact, it was a good life for them
Under this new care of the other relative, which sent a notion unto them that, not everyone is a devil, some are good, others bad, others bad-good,
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That is life; it works in any way with an appropriate formula applied to calculate up its measure, not leisure
They wish they could one day marry such a kind of a woman they are staying with right now, a woman with heart of love for all humanity, despite the color, religion, and race,
So that they fulfill their dreams of marrying wives that would bring them development, not destruction compared to tying a knot with those other 21st century ladies,
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Who don’t care about what a relative means to them apart from their husbands and children who they want to live with only not extending a hand to an extended member of the family
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It will be woebegone in case they find themselves in those crooked hands of those ladies who could not take charge in the homestead and would welcome a new soul into the family and live with him/her in peace
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Oh, the mighty gentlemen!
They appreciated her –the caring woman as they prepare to go back to their hoods after the dreaded calamity is gone,
And that is what it means to have a caring relative to them,
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In a nutshell, they said in unison unto her, “In times of difficulty, you know your enemy, your true relative, and your lover though God is the universal and a supreme being who loves us all”.
Though each and every situation seems to soak their parades, man must live and therefore life continues
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Oh the mighty gentlemen!
In unity, they left for their ghetto home
Where they are going to make both ends meet and face life with determinations,
It’s always good to be a gentleman!
Alas!
Adol Akuei, the poet is a second-year student pursuing Bachelor of Science in nursing at Moi University, Eldoret, Kenya. He is the current secretary general of the Moi University South Sudanese Students Association (MUSSSA). He was the former vice chairman of the Greater Bor South Sudanese Association in Bungoma, Kenya. You can reach out unto him through the email: adolakuei@gmail.com.
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