I stooped by the Nile for a wash

Chupoon… chupoon

Chupoon chupoon chupoon

I stooped by the Nile for a wash

All the waters from the desert

Had headed there in search of fish

So I washed off the dust of the years

Real dust since fifty years ago

But anachronistic practices

Formed a magnetic field for my fingers

And dark tribal traditions stuck like glue

To my brain and blood

Chupoon… chupoon

Chupoon chupoon chupoon

Colourful brain and colourful blood all the way

Seven times seven years plus one

I went for the Jubilee wash

Chupoon… chupoon

Chupoon chupoon chupoon

I could quote every good book from cover to cover

But the mummies gave up on me

They saw that my heart was un-washable

I drank from the cup of the Pharoahs

And accepted fifty of their slaves

So my land could be transformed into Egypt

 Chupoon… chupoon

Chupoon chupoon chupoon

I took a wash and called myself a Pharoah

But the Pharoah could not enter my blood

There were lions all over giving shape to my mountains

But I lost my own lion heart

When the lion let me loose for a run

Chupoon… chupoon

Chupoon chupoon chupoon

I locked the door of development for my land

And gave the key to a mere rare monkey

No one won the gold for this first lap

But all were given the chance for a second chance

And this wash in the Nile

Chupoon… chupoon

Chupoon chupoon chupoon

Will send me home with Pharoah’s hate for fake partnerships

And regroup nostalgia with anathema issues

And so Nkrumah and Lincoln among others

Volunteered to wash me this time

 Chupoon… chupoon

Chupoon chupoon chupoon

And they chorused better late than not try

And the earlier water of my washing

Flowed downstream in search of fish for desert waters

But tell me who fished here before Pedro

Or who got marooned here before the Maroons

Who depended on whom before independence

I just need an anniversary wash

Chupoon… chupoon

Chupoon chupoon chupoon

And then I’d cleanse my thoughts from ticking trash

In the road