Orengo Walks Off The Stage..."

Could have been different
you know
The outcome that is
Could have been different
you know
Should have been different
you see
The story at the end
of the evening
Should have been
different
There you were
bravest of the bravest brave
Summoning
the wherewithal
To follow through
with your bravest gesture of all
Walking out of
that counting hall
with your head held high
walking past the cheering and the jeering
There was definitely
Something wrong
With that picture
Looked to us
As if we watching a movie
Upside down backwards
This was not the way
It was supposed
To end
This was not the way
It was meant to be
We had foreseen the final credits
Roll over images of a triumphant fist
Shaking jubilantly as you celebrated
With all of us
Not walking away dejectedly
As we ululated deliriously
Something, definitely
was wrong
with this sad picture
Of your long face,
an island
in that ocean
of beaming faces
Instead you are pensive in a western rural enclave
Wondering where the bag of bricks came from
To knock you senseless
Before a small avalanche of rocks
Completed the burial
All those lonely nights planning the crowded afternoons
All those lonely years leading the valiant battles
All those lonely days shouting hoarsely in the wilderness
All those nights, years, days forgotten
In this evening of your untimely slaughter
They say the great tragic figures in history
And I mean tragic the way the Greeks meant tragic
They say all the tragic figures
Were brought down by one fatal flaw
Greed in one, jealousy in another
What was your vulnerable heel,
O our wounded Achilles?
You had led us in swimming in those shark infested waters for so long
You had guided us through the hyena’s lair and the viper’s nooks
You had stamped out the tarantulas just as they were about to pounce
And you did that so many times
And you did that so many times
And you did that so many times
Why then Jay- Ag from our own West Side
Why then Jay-Ag from our own West Side
Why Jay-Ag
Why Jay-Ag O.R.E.N.
Why Jay –Ag O.R.E.N.G.O.
Why, O Why
Why , O Why
Did you swim against the tide
Why did you swim against the tide
Why did you swim against the tide
Why did you swim
against the tide
you had been ahead for so long?
What now, Jay Ag
What now
What now Jay Ag
What now
Forever such a restless soul
How do you find solace in obscurity
At this time, when the weeding is done
And the seedlings struggle to assert their young lives
What now Jay Ag
What now
What now Jay Ag
What now…..

Onyango Oloo
Montreal, January 10, 2003 2:11 AM