Last time when we fought in the land of Kabonda
We were truly animals
Ooh! Forget that once upon a time like they say in those great animal tales
Kabonda was a paradise
We lived together; many animals of varying forms, shapes and sizes
We lived a communal life; you scratch my back, we scratch your back
All were equal, even though in unequal terms and all agreed
We were prosperous; peaceful
In Kabonda, the lion ate, the antelope ate
The leopard ate, the goat ate
The cow grazed, the fox preyed
The chicken scratched the ground for ants, the eagle soared
The monkey lived in the tree, the hawk too lived
In the tree
The rat ate, the snake swallowed
Nature served all justly and we were all exultant
Even when new animals with different skins arrived
And pushed as out of our land we seemed happy
And when we were tired we fought for our independence
We declared Kabonda a Republic and formed a new Serikali
And with the formation of our Serikali, things began to fall apart
The leaders begun to still from ordinary animals
And the leaders became the owners of Kabonda
They grabbed all the arable land and begun to employ
Only their relatives, tribesmen and friends
In public positions
They shared our forests, roads and markets among themselves
And their rich cronies
When we asked them to return what belonged to Kabonda
To be shared among Kabondans; they cried wolf
And said that their ethnic communities were being witch hunted
And all invented new tribal coats
The foxes saw light first since one of their own was the first president
And the lions became their fiercest rivals
The leopards discovered that they could play the lion against the foxes
And their tribe took power on the death of the ruling fox
The dog fathomed that he was a dog
And that he must violate the cat to survive
And when the tribe of foxes grew in population to outnumber others
They elected to grab everything and eat everything
Mr Lion had strength but he could not act
Mr Leopard took what belonged to Mr and Mrs Dog
Mr Dog grabbed what belonged to Mr and Mrs Cat
And Mr Eagle grabbed what belonged to Mrs Hen
And in this vileness of bestiality all the citizens of Kabonda
Established that to subsist you had stifle those that were different;
Those that spoke in a different mother tongue language
When the elections for a new serikali came
All foxes, vicious wild dogs, hyenas and pigs voted for a fox
The lions formed a merger, not of Political Parties
But of tribes with the leopards, the elephants, the buffaloes,
The dogs and many other tribes of smaller animals
The vultures and monkeys stood in the middle alone watching; waiting
When the results were announced Kabonda like an old, old pot dropped
To a hard surface from a distance cracked in many places
Only that in this case the pieces did not fall off utterly
The pieces are still hanging precariously after blood was seen oozing
From the cracks
When Kabonda cracked it was terrible; awful
Ooh! All animals were pregnant and it was not babies they carrying
At birth, they delivered hatred and dreadful
Savagery and horrendous pugnaciousness
And true to the adage that a snake that lives with a leopard
May once in a while turn up the more dangerous, all the animals
Turned in to ferocious bloodletting Draculas and vampires
The lions, leopards, foxes and wild dogs bared their paws
And sunk their canines into their rivals
Snakes bared their fangs, eagles and hawks sharpened their bicks and talons
Even cows and donkeys kicked fatally
Domestic dogs went amok barking, biting and urinating
The vultures still stood alone in the middle, watching; waiting
When it threatened to escalate into full blown anarchy
The leading animals called for others from abroad to help
Them sit around a table to discuss peace as the animals
They set against another continued to butcher each other
The cracks are still there for all to see
Who will make them the tribe of Kabonda
We were animals the last time we went to elections(war)