But Nyako...you refuse me


like Tony Nyadundo
singing Isanda Gi Hera
I am very very sad

Lando* lady
oh! how I love you
but nyako* you refuse me

when I see you
my heart goes kubum bu
like the great isikuti* beat

you generate feelings in me
like KenGen generates electricity
and even if I tell you...you refuse me

omukhana omulai*
what can I possibly do
to make you feel like I feel

should I stop the Eldoret Express bus
climb it...sit in the seat...pay for the seat
and travel to visit you in Kasipul Kabondo?

and when I get there
should I talk to you and convince you
to accompany me back to Shamakhokho?

ja-ber!you are so sweet
so sweet like a packet of Mumias Sugar
ja-ber! I am the cup of tea that needs your sweet sugar

I think of you as my future omukhasi*
with every thought of you I hear kubum bu
please lando lady I am yearning for you

I have tried to explain to you the feelings of my heart
using thoughts in my mind and words from my mouth
but nyako...you refuse me



( Lando- means fair skinned in the Dholuo language)

( Nyako-refers to a woman or girl in Dholuo)

( Ja-ber- refers to a beautiful woman in Dholuo)

(Omukhana Omulai- Refers to a good woman/girl in the Luhya language)

( Omukhasi-Refers to woman/wife in Luhya)

(Isikuti-Corruption of "Is good" in English.Refers to a melodious Luhya dance)




Poetry by Mike
Read 1195 times
Written on 2007-01-04 at 06:14

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Amanda K
mike,
i admit that's a unqiue job. you added vocab from another language and mingled in your poem with English. i loved your work here .it has a sense of humor and clever.

bookmarked,
Amanda
2007-03-10



This poem makes me remember the great Okot p'Bitek and the writings of Ngugi Wa Thiong'o. It's indeed African. The "Africanness" in the poem really bring out the aesthetic of the work without translation. The words were carefully chosen to tell the heartfelt story in between the lines and stanzas.

In a way, this poem look at love from another angle, not from the point of appreciation alone but of adoration without collateral respond. Although, the poet run away from the last part, which ought to let us know maybe the lass at the end succumb or not. Well, that can be amend in another poem, which will now be a sequel to this one.

This is nice.
2007-01-04