Dreams did we have?
Those who didn’t lose their dreams lost life and limb. Little were we! Belittled were our ambitions,
We, the innocent souls stripped of the identity in our lands, Leaders we gave our trust stabbed us till we were no more.
My dream was to evacuate my family from the misery of poverty. But our vision was shuttered by a confusion of our indifferences,
Preachers taught that Tutsis had no home, that their souls would wander in the depths of hell.
So determined to give us hell, I questioned what had happened to humanity and leaders who vowed to protect us.
Certain occasions became depressions, thinking how much I lost and what I was about to endure.
Every second gone, was a life-long gone.
Sorrowful sounds were at their highest pitch begging for easier ways to die Surrendering to the butchers was a sign of desperation,
Such shady ideology, I knew my time was up, up and down I played ignoring the fact.
Tick-tack my heart raced into the nothingness of despair.
Jordan and James, joyful as they were, I never imagined their fate would end up so unfortunate, laying in the fields mercilessly tortured, begging the tyrants to make it quick.
Oh! How oblivious of their origins?
So much life unlived, so many promises unfulfilled, and for what? Now I despise my life even in disguise,
They said you are not one of us, but I asked are you sure?
Parents widowed; children orphaned; a calamity that stormed our nation. Leaving a few but none of whom envisioned a better recuperation.
Hatred jungled people’s hearts.
Rain, rain go away was our cry, but pain, pain flowed in us like a waterfall
Scared we ran to the mountains and hid into forests, but death haunted us beyond imagination.
Hope lost, Immortality our wish.
Survival wasn’t an option at all but a miracle.
We prayed, begged for our life but beggars have no choice, after losing it, I said the die is cast.
Our enemy wished our extinction, they killed our hope, but our unity was engrafted in our mother country.
Fierce they looked upon us, death an unquestionable outcome. Beheaded were our throats but not our thoughts.
Thoughts of a better Rwanda, Rwanda as a free country.
Today I live, because heroes lived
Peace they left in our hearts to live again
But the idea of Memento Mori (Remember you shall die) was stuck in us. Every day I question my existence
And live for those who left us
Their bodies were left in this merciless world but their kindness will forever be cast onto us.
Endless love we promise you, courage we owe you.
The tears you shed and the cross you carried will be a synopsis of the past we should never go back to.
I READ YOUR STORY BUT YOU LIVED THAT STONY STORY
POET: NSHUTI SERGE
SCHOOL: Nu-Vision High School. Class: Year 13 PCM
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