LEISURE: POETRY

I refuse to take your brotherly Hand: Henry Barlow


Your nails are black with dirt, brother
And your palms are clammy with sweat
I refuse to take the hand you extend in help.
I shall not join hands with you brother
For unclean hands make me uneasy
For filthy fingernails rob me of my pride.


You argue, gesticulating with your once 
Impeccable clean and beautiful hands
That before long it shall not matter
For 'everybody' is delving and digging
And all shall have hands dipping with dirt.


That nobody shall know what clean hands look like
And there shall be comfort in the dirty crowd
And enough to eat, for there are good yields
When the stinking manure is well dug in
With strong and bold hands in time.


Are you going blind brother?
I ask how many have sludge 
Or the strong and bold hands like yours
With which to dig and delve?
Brother the hands of many are too weak with hunger
And for many the sludge is out of reach
And yet for others the stink is too nauseating!
But all have eyes and hunger fills them with anger
As they watch your fingernails fill with dirt!


I have seen hungry envious eyes
Watching silently through your chain-link fence
I have seen eyes in deep sunken sockets
Burning with anger intently watching you
I have seen parched mouths water with saliva
And heard the rumbling of hollow enemy stomachs
As they watched you feed the dog with meat
From the heavy yields of the city sludge.


Have you entirely forgotten Brother
The fragrance and comfort of clean hands?
The confidence, the peace you have when you know
You'll leave no ugly smudge upon the sheet?
Don't you remember the repulsion you had
When you shook hands with fat dirty men
With their dirty clammy palms?


Let me alone brother and from the top of the cliff
Don't offer your dirty hand in help.
Let me trudge the long way up 
For the short cuts are soiled and slippery
Your palms are clammy with the sweat of fear
And your fingernails are clogged with dirt.


Look at Kenya, the definition of a Kenyan and how they carry themselves. There is always greed and arrogance. Those on the bottom gap will always fight for space and even their own breath. The campaign season is in the air and I think it is high time we found this bold person to tell my politician who wants to defile the environment this refrain,' I refuse to take your brotherly hand' Corruption must end. There is no question today but rather just Let and open session to share your thoughts about the poem and what you think its impact on our current society.