This war started long ago with your great grandfather,
The difference being he was fighting to stay,
For the same reason you're fighting to leave...
He was fighting for this home which no longer is,
For the gods you now call pagan, for the culture you deem fake,
And the minerals, now heavy jewels around your neck.

This war started long before anyone thought it would,
When the iron snake started wriggling from the coast,
Spreading its poison across the land, carrying modernity with it,
When they killed the protesters of Tsavo and called them man-eaters.

This war started when Kinjikitile failed to save us from the fire spitting sticks,
When nyungu ya mawe fell, when the imperialist found the trade routes.

This war started long ago when your ancestors developed a taste for salt,
And were told to give away a few of your kin to have it...

This war started with that book that you believe in,
the one that speaks about sticks turning into snakes and people walking on water.

This war started when your great grand Uncle believed and collaborated,
even long before that, when the kabaka agreed to split this land.

This war started when we accepted the names the colonialist gave,
to our lakes, our rivers, our springs and then to our children...

Yet here you are pumped up like this war has just begun...