come away, my love by Joseph Elijah Kiriuki, poem analysis

 Background of the poet

Born in Banana Hill, Kenya in 1931, Joseph Elijah Kiriuki was educated at Makerere in Ugandy. He is a teacher at different secondary schools in Kenya. In 1966, he became the Principal of Kenya Institute of Administration. The poem, Come away, my love, is obviously a reflection of Joseph Kiriuki's experience during his studies in Britain.

Come away, my love is a poem of three stanza. The first stanza lays emphasis on the

colour differential between the poet and his lover or girlfriend. In the first stanza, the poet is ostensibly walking with his lover on the streets. 

He notices something is not quite right as the they both walk on hand in hand as all lovers

proudly do. It takes an elongated time for the poet to understandably realize what is

amiss. 

But now that he has finally realized it, he advises his lover to "come away... from the streets." Apparently, he desires them to head to the house. 

His reason for this emanates from the fact that each day they walk on the streets, there are "mankind eyes" that "divide" their colour differential. 

The poet is an African while his lover is a white lady. The people on the streets, who are equally British, stare at them with disgust. 

They juxtapose the lovers and in their opinion, the colour mismatch the relationship. The poet laments that even the British glass windows of shops on the

Streets "reflect our difference;" therefore, he suggests to his lover: Let's walk to "the

shelter of my faithful room rest," where he can peacefully stay without racial

discrimination.

The poet believes that staying with his lover in the shelter of my room, not only will

he be "safe from opinion" of the disaapproving mankind eye, but he would "see only"

her.

Consequently, he prefers "the candlelight" that "throws" his shadow and that of his

lover on the wall. What the poet means by this is that he desires the inanimate

candlelight to see them as lover rather than the curious and discriminating eyes of

mankind on the streets.

The poet's preference for "the candlelight" is chiefly focused on equality. The

candlelight does not discriminate between white and black people. Therefore, the

shadows which the candlelight will show on the wall are dark, irrespective of

complexion of the the people, race or language.

Another aspect of equality which the poet uses "the candlelight" to portray is sex. Sex

exists between white and black. If the outside world disapproves their consummation

of love, the candlelight does not, hence the need for them to "merge into one as I close

beside you."

In the last stanza, the discourse on sex continues. The poet describes this as "two

human breaths join in one/ And the piano weaves/ Its unchallenged harmony."