Watchman
Tell the watchman
They no longer congregate
By the bar
Falling to and for and on
Each other
Like moths to a light
Tell the sentry
He no longer has to keep watch
The watched have taken off
And have themselves become
Watchers of their sanitizing
Watchmen over their compounds
Tell the watcher
The gangs have gone
Good riddance for a while
But the watchman
Must the Enterprise watch
Watchman
The hubbub behind the balcony
Worry not
Rodents feast on the mutton
Long left by forlorn merrymakers
Posthaste they parted
Watcher
The crack-crack you thought
You heard
A dry leaf dispatched
To the ground
And the shuffle in your ears
Is nothing but the bubble
Of the canopy
Above the bar
Tell the watchman
New ways and new
Things he shall learn
The watcher shall watch
Anew.
Biography
Denis Waswa Barasa is a teacher of English and Literature at the Immaculate Heart of Mary Luuya Girls,in Bungoma County Western Kenya. He enjoys writing and reading poetry, drama and prose.