IGIHE

Category: Poem

  • Inspired by The Love, Denied by The World

    Truth be told, the love gathers enemy and friend, brother and sister, mighty and weak with one love
    A gain is certain for I falter with the one true love
    I hear people say love, but love is more than what I fantasize for I have devoured all to the one true love.
    The love of our Lord skips the heights of the mountains, breezes through the winds and fills the emptiness within me.

    Corny as it may sound, its intensity is overwhelming and impeccable.
    Brothers from all corners of the world open up for the one true love from our Lord.
    Let the sin find you holy, not the holy finding u sinful I doubt my purity but I stand still for the word

    Delighted we become, blessed we go with the one true love
    The honour of his presence shakes out the evil within me, meticulous I become to work for the Lord.

    The enchantment of the glory of the Lord of which I am embedded in, ignites my eagerness to work for the Lord
    Scriptures to scriptures lighten my path, to see what the world doesn’t seem to
    see, I am not intelligent but the stupidity I preside over makes me outstanding.

    {{Poet: Nshuti Serge

    SCHOOL: Nu-Vision High School}}

  • Life without life in 1994

    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}}

  • The World I Dream of, on Women’s Day

    {On days like these,
    I find solace in hope, perspective in wonder,
    For the present is hardly perfect.

    We are born knowing that women
    Are resilient, perhaps to a fault.
    To nurture and protect, they will move a mountain,
    Even hungry, they will feed the world.

    So when I see the strength of a woman,
    Whose spine is stout, whose back is sturdy,
    Adorned in bold and splendid fabrics,
    Strain hidden beneath grace and beauty,
    I also see all the ravages of time,
    In painting her pain as her crown of glory.
    Why should that woman navigate,
    Between indifference and victimization?
    Why must we submit to a yearly date,
    To condemn female degradation? Why?

    Sometimes, I imagine a world different from this present one.
    It is a shame how often we stifle imagination,
    Yet imagination,
    is the lyric of an irrepressible spirit.
    Where creativity and art once collided,
    Our nation’s offspring were once serenaded,
    “Ukuranye ituze
    Ukuranye ubwiza
    Ukaba n’ingenzi koko”

    What if we, like dreamers,
    Allowed our minds to roam the vast expanse,
    Just for a little, hearts wide open,
    To reverie, to a poem.

    With my eyes closed I see, bright as day,
    A just, a fair
    An equal,
    And a very kind world,
    In which prejudice has passed, bias was driven far away!
    And in this world of even care, I see …
    A Woman and a girl, claim their fair share,
    Of promise, of prism and of power,
    Acknowledged and fostered.

    I find solace and hope in wonder.
    Perhaps you’d care to join me?

    Le monde que j’imagine a appris de nos erreurs,
    Il soigne les blessures causées par nos échecs.
    Il ne connait le dur désir de dominance,
    Qui aime pour victimes femmes et enfants,
    Celui qui semble toujours vivre aujourd’hui,
    Dans un coin enfoui de nos coeurs.

    Et si ce monde pour lequel nous prions,
    Dépendait de nos présentes actions;
    Et si nous refusions enfin de tolérer,
    Qu’une femme de plus soit abandonnée,
    Au bord d’une route qu’elle aujourd’hui balaye,
    Et un jour construit,
    En offrant,
    Eperdument,
    Sueur, amour, et vie.

    Bari, Bategarugori.
    Muri benimpuhwe,
    Muri Indangamirwa.

    Quand je me laisse un peu rêver,
    Les femmes que nous célébrons ce mois-ci,
    ont leurs efforts et vertus,
    Appréciés ; reconnus,
    Tout au long de l’année.

    The world I dream of on Women’s Day,
    Is one of empowered women and vocal allies
    Who together, keep prejudice at bay,
    United in mission, by humanity’s ties.

    To the fathers that have been rocks,
    That have given their daughters steady support,
    To the brothers that have honoured their sisters,
    As they braved a sometimes frightening, negligent world,
    You are a pride to your mothers and we salute you!
    May your conviction never falter,
    May you never abuse your power,
    For History observes, History judges, History remembers.
    Demandons-nous sans crainte ou retenue:
    Duhanikire icyarimwe tuti:

    « Uri Mwiza Mama! »
    « Data azaguhe urugukwiye
    Rumwe udukunda utizigamye
    N’uwaguhanze aguhore hafi
    Azakurinde amakuba yose.”

    In the world I dream of, on Women’s Day,
    compassion and support are not gendered.

    Indeed, when I let my mind wander,
    And to faith and hope, surrender,
    The plains along which our children run,
    Are evenly endowed by rain and sun.

    J’ose rêver d’un futur lumineux pour les femmes.
    Je rêve d’un monde ou égale est chaque âme.}

    Her Excellency The First Lady Mrs Jeannette Kagame.