Services on Demand
Article
Indicators
Related links
- Cited by Google
- Similars in Google
Share
Education as Change
On-line version ISSN 1947-9417
Print version ISSN 1682-3206
Educ. as change vol.24 n.1 Pretoria 2020
http://dx.doi.org/10.25159/1947-9417/8791
THEMED SECTION 2
POETRY
Mosima Kagiso Phakane
University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa. kgphakane@gmail.com
Tse direto re di nyantse
Di re kgomaretse magalagapa
Di elela le masika nke ya Tugela meela
Ke ditaola tsa bogologolo
Maleme a bagologolo
Ge ebe ba rutlumulla bjoko ka ditheto
Go tshikinyega le thaba ya pelo
Mekgolokwane ya gona
Legodimo le be le theoge le gokare lefase
O kwe nke lefase le opa magoswi
O kwe nke mawatle a letsa mekgosi
Bohwa ke lehumo
Re ka mokona dithai le dinonwane
Wa bogale mollo o sohlasohla tsa mohwelere dikgonye
Meno a tloswa bodutu ke dithotse le dithuthupe
Ya maotwana a mararo e bipetswe ke ditloo le ditloo-maake
E goragora nke e a tsikiditlwa
Nka le tuntetsa gare ga diema le dika
La sala le kgohlotse mahlo nke mankgohlo
Ge nka re matshidi, mahlatswa, dihletlwa
Ge nka re leselo, sego goba thitelo
Bjoko bo ka ema pho!
Gwa thunya musi wa kgakanego
Yaka pelo e rothisa ya bohloko
Bohwa ke selo se sele go rena ba kalana ye ntshwa
Re kakatletse tse sele ka tsa go kompula meratha
Ra furalela le go thuntshetsa lerole
Dijo-kgolo tsa bogologolo
Metse go swa mabapi
Tsa hloka seboka di sia ke nare e hlotsa
Ke moka re di furaletse, bongwana' magana go botswa
A ke gona ge re itlhapila diatla
Diatla tsa go relela ruri
Di a re phonyoga tsa bogologolo
Heritage (Translation of "Bokgabo le Setso") by Mosima Kagiso
Phakane
We were breastfed these poems
They hang onto the palates of our mouths
Flow through our veins
Like the flow of the Tugela falls
These are ancient bones
Tongues of those we descended from
They scattered brains with praises
Shook the rockiest of hearts
The ululations
Heavens descend and pulls earth into its arms
You'll hear as if earth is applauding
You'll hear as if oceans are singing praise
Heritage is wealth
We can devour riddles and indigenous stories
As the fierce fire gobbles the dry wood
Keeping our teeth company is fried and dry pumpkin seeds and maize seeds
The three-legged pot almost overflowing with nuts
Unsettled, as if being tickled
I can baptise you in proverbs and idioms
Leave you so wide eyed with shock, like an owl
I could tell you about a variety of wild berries
Mention a variety of indigenous apparatus
Brains would stand still
And smoke of confusion would fill this space
My heart sheds tears of pain
Heritage is foreign to us
We hold tightly to foreign deeds
Easily erasing the roots we descended from
One flaming house can easily lead to a stream of houses on flames
A herd of lions divided is easily outrun by a limping buffalo
Have we really discarded all these teachings, an unruly generation
Are we really erasing the roots we descended from
Slippery hands, the lessons they've fed us are slowly slipping away