You almost couldn't see him

The pile of rubbish.So large.You almost couldn't see him.The stench.You almost couldn't see him.But there he sat.Clapping his hands.Excited about something.It must have been the voices in his head.His lips moved.As if he was having a conversation with somebody There was nobody there.There beside him, a fire.I wondered who had lit it.He sat there oblivious of the world around him.Like a child in a mother's womb.Safe,unworried,comfortable.Like a brown bear hibernating.This man in Nairobi downtown.Dirty man.Unkempt man.Insane man.Half clothed man.Pitiable man.Pitiable pitiable man.


She lay on the floor.Prostrate like a corpse shot at the back of the head.Her body covered except for her feet.Dirty,unshoe-ed.Cracks on her feet.An infant beside her.Playing with the dirt around him.Passerbys avoiding stepping on them both.Mother turning under her covers oblivious of the world around her.No coin cup beside them.A defeated mother.A happy child.A child that only knows the life on the streets.Pitiable mum.Pitiable child.

He lies there.Massive swelling on his back.Manilla paper at his side.Explanations on the paper in felt pen handwriting.He was born with the swelling.He needs medical assistance.He cannot afford it.He needs your help.Coin cup on his side.How many coins does he need to get that swelling off?Pitiable man.Pitiable sight.

We turn in our beds.Grab onto our blankies.Adjust our pillows.We dream happy dreams.Wake up.Stand on our feet,walk into our bathrooms.Have our hot showers.We eat our big balanced breakfasts.We go to work.We go to school.The privileges we have.We wait for our big salaries and our big degrees.We live our happy lives.The privileges we have.Our needs and wants met.

It breaks my heart that I cannot walk into the streets and rid them of the underprivileged.Because these are the dynamics of life.The extremes.The rich and the poor.The average.The healthy and the extremely sick.The dynamics of life.All I can do is share where I can,help in the little.I choose to embrace the much I have,the little.Embrace it.Possess it.Dance with it.Live.A day at a time.Through thick times and thin ones.

Live.As long as you have breath.Live.

Live.

Live.