Poetry is on Veiled Ridicule.

When people want to criticize others, they present it as concern. Some African oral poetry is not any different. The persona uses his or her 'concern' to ridicule some behavior such as laziness, betrayal, moral decadence and corruption. In the following poem, the theme of immorality is presented as follows:

THEY ARE ASKING FOR HER ALL OVER

They are asking for her all over

Have you seen our girl?

Has anybody come across Ciagitune?

The parents, the village mates and the clan elders

They are searching for her

Has anyone seen our daughter?

She is lost.

Some are saying that she went

Through the path to Mombasa

She was measured a dress at Chogoria

And others at Kagoco

A girl has been taken away.

The daughters of Mbeere land

You have no behaviour

Have you heard someone 

Selling herself

Being picked with saliva like a flea!

A big person yet not mature in deeds

Good-for-nothing girl!

In the first stanza, the speaker seems really concerned because a girl, Ciagitune, is missing. There entire community is said to be searching for her. In the second stanza, the reader learns that the whereabouts of the girl are actually known: "...she went through the path to Mombasa". The activities the girl engages in on her way there like fitting dresses at Chogoria and Kagoco portray her as a person out to impress. The last line in the second is stanza is quite explicit. It changes from: "She is lost." in the first stanza to : " A girl has been taken away." In the last stanza, the persona unleashes her scathing ridicule. She exposes the girl as a foolish, cheap and immoral person who has gone to engage in prostitution: "Selling herself". The poem also serves to admonish the other girls in the community by making the girl's behaviour as all inclusive. The persona says: "The daughters of Mbeere land/ You have no behaviour".

Use of direct translation gives the poem the local flavour. Expressions like "You have no behaviour" to mean 'you are ill-mannered' and "She was measured a dress" to mean 'she fitted a dress' show how people speak in that place. The persona also uses local figurative language like "Being picked with saliva like a flea", to mean being gullible, are used to create authenticity.

In conclusion, African poetry is at times used as a platform to ridicule immoral behaviour and caution young people against it.