THEMED SECTION 2
POETRY

 

Bokgabo le Setso

 

 

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