A Leopard Lives in a Muu Tree by Jonathan Kariara

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A leopard lives in a Muu tree

Watching my home

My lambs are born speckled

My wives tie their skirts tight

And turn away –

Fearing mottled offspring.

They bathe when the moon is high

Soft and fecund

Splash cold mountain stream water on their nipples

Drop their skin skirts and call obscenities.

I’m besieged

I shall have to cut down the Muu tree

I’m besieged

I walk about stiff

Stroking my loins.

A leopard lives outside my homestead

Watching my women

I have called him elder, the one-from-the-same-womb

He peers at me with slit eyes

His head held high

 

My sword has rusted in the scabbard.

My wives purse their lips

When owls call for mating

I’m besieged

They fetch cold mountain water

They crush the sugar cane

But refuse to touch my beer horn.

My fences are broken

My medicine bags torn

The hair on my loins is singed

The upright post at the gate has fallen

My women are frisky

The leopard arches over my homestead

Eats my lambs

Resuscitating himself.