I AM RETURNING HOME

I am returning home brother

Yes, I am returning from the university

From campus: where we all wanted to be

And believe me brother

I have earned a title

We are now called ‘intelligent people’

And I will kill you if you don’t call me that

Because I have worked so hard to earn it

And you can tell even from how I speak

I have forgotten our mother tongue

Even from how I dress

I have forgotten the meaning of decency

But it doesn’t matter;

Because that is for the villagers.

I am returning home sister,

After many years of toil.

I heard you never made it to the university

Don’t cry, because you are lucky.

Here the girls are unlucky

We use them like toilet paper

To wipe away the shit of our lusts

And then throw them into the bin of forgotten

They don’t know how to say no

Because we don’t know how to tell the truth

But we have words; words that move them

And when we have taken away their value

We move on to those with more value.

I am returning home mother

And I believe I have made you proud

You taught always to go to church

And for sure mother, church was my best friend

But there is somebody who told me

That dance is sweet on Saturday

So I decided to alternate

Only to obey your word mother

You told me to be a good boy

I sure was, I never failed you

I never failed my peers either

The ones who smoke weed and bhang

The ones who drink alcohol like water

I never failed them mother

I really was a good boy

I am returning home father

You have waited long enough for my degrees

Indeed, I bring with me two degrees

I am sure I did not really fail you

The first degree is in economics

And the second is responsibility

Responsibility for the choices I made

So I can live with the lasting consequences of them

I evaded responsibility for the babies I sired

For the pains I caused

For the discords I soared

But I had to bring this one with me

Because the alternative is my grave

And I bring with me a disease

A disease I worked so hard to get

A disease I desperately looked for

And I am going to keep it for the rest of my life

I would also have brought a third degree with me

But father, the campus girl is not a wife.

Now open wide your arms and embrace me

Because after so long here I come

A little more different than I left

And I am a good person

I am not returning to steal away your poverty

I hope you won’t mind sharing it with me

Because, thanks to you, in the university

I never had a taste of it

And I have a job, o family

I was recently made the group admin of our class WhatsApp group

So prepare to provide some bundles for the job

I am returning home; home sweet home

Cheer up; put a smile on your faces.

by Vincent Owino