13/12/2025
There is this thing I yearn to do,
the childhood I passed by but never lived through.
From afar,
I look like just another young Kenyan man,
Luo to be precise,
but look closer, youāll see a spirit thrown head-first into responsibility before it learnt how to float.
At the age my mates were busy sailing on slides,
taking joyrides,
Dufo mpararo
my childhood was a ticketless ride,
6AM at the bus station,
small hands catching cash
a CEO before I could spell the letters in CEO.
I never had a childās wide-eyed wonder.
I learnt only what was necessary.
I never played kalongo longo,
never built castles with imaginary wives.
But ask me about kasongo,
I can write a full thesis,
not a hurried tap-and-go.
So if you see me enjoying now,
donāt rush to judge.
Just let me be the clock I never got to rewind.
Let me slide the slides now,
even if thereās a wrinkle near my eye.
Let me build new fantasies,
I'm a world where taxes and stress are just chains
I finally learnt how to break.
Just let me breathe.
I know the hour is late,
but let me be a king in my own sand-made castle,
a fortress built on the tears of time lost.
Let me go for sleepovers,
so I can forget the landlordās knock,
pretend rent is a myth,
and tomorrow is not hunting me,
Let me be a child for once,
Thatās why I donāt like Angie,she keeps calling me Dzaddy
after I begged her to call me Baby,
I am a child,
A big man child,Call me big baby
Call me baby for once,
My heart is still soft enough to need it.
So if you see me out there,
a grown man trying on a childās skin,
doing things my age does not allow,
Just let me be.
ā¤ļøā¤ļø