Ta Waru Na Mũtũra

Gwe dete
ta warũ na mũtũra -
Gĩririka nete
Gishog’aga
((Excerpt from Gĩkũyũ poem))
>>
I love you
like potatoes and mutura -
Even in my sleep
I am reminiscent of you
((English Translation of 1st verse))
>>
Nakupenda
kama viazi na mtura -
hata nilalapo
mwenzako nakukumbuka
((Kiswahili translation of 1st verse))
-------------------------------------

Ta Waru Na Mũtũra:
The Poem =

I love you
like potatoes and mutura
Even in my sleep
I am reminiscent of you

I dream of you
with endless fervor -
for every thought of you
is sweetness to my heart

Gashũgwa!!
you are the life of my love -
my heart beats for you
like the thumping

of hands on my chest
to save me from a choking
warũ - my soul leaps
in delighted gaiety

when I imagine
your sandals softly treading
upon the earth -
as chocolatey as your skin!

I am in endless awe
at the blackness of your lips -
like burnt firewood
between the hearth stones

of mother's cooker -
And your scent is powerful
It seeps through me like
the invigorating smell

of well-cooked mũtũra -
Your stride is melodious
It brings to mind the tunes
of kanyoni mũtĩ-ĩnĩ

singing its heart out -

In one of the
thousand dreams of you
I had the night before today -
We were in infinite embrace

You were a smoky
I was a chapati -
And you held me in your arms
like Chapoo holds Smoky

And even when life
opened its mouth to eat us
you did not embrace evanescence
or fade away from me -

you still held tightly to me -

Tears like liquid diamond
raced past my cheek this morning -
when I woke up to find that
it was just a dream

Gashũgwa!!
Wewe Mũrĩika wakwa -

My silvery wings dance about you
in silent serenade
I am a mũrĩika mũnĩnĩ -
the one they call hummingbird

and you are the flower
on whose petals I love to dance
whose nectar I love to drink -
tamu kuliko asali! *

Your love to me is like the sweet
refreshing summer rains
that fall on me -
a poor golden blade of grass

Shall I compare you to the snows of
Kĩrĩnyaga? for you have frozen
my heart with the beautiful
presence of your being -

Like the lovely bits of
nature on Tanzania's Kilimanjaro
your love, my love, is the
address of beauty -

So when they ask me where beauty lies
I can lead the way there -
and we shall swim like swans
through your fragile veins

to your heart! -

Gwe dete
ta warũ na mũtũra -
Gĩririka nete
Gishog’aga

Afrika -
wewe Gashũgwa gakwa!!
---------------------------------------------

>>to Julian, Jesus, and Mama Afrika!!

>>this poem begins with an excerpt from a Gĩkũyũ children's poem that I was told by my lovely Julian >>I have translated it into Kiswahili and English, then found my creative juices flowing in the cosmology of the excerpt's composer - enjoy!!!

It speaks the heart of a young Gikuyu lover to his beloved... it is written with much love from me (who, in this poetic fiction, is the Gikuyu boy) to Mama Afrika (my Gashugwa) - and to Jesus, for this gift of stringing words together, and pouring my heart onto paper through pen!!!

Kipepeo Mkononi

Today is a butterfly
in my arms - preparing to
fly away...

>>written on my bed - near midnight

Mapenzi Ya Neema

Wala sistahili
Kuwa hapa mbele zako mpenzi
Wala sistahili
Kuwa mbele ya huu utakatifu

Ni mangapi nimefanya
Ambayo kweli yakuumiza roho
Ni mara ngapi nimekuwa
Nacheza cheza tu na moyo wako

Kwani ni nini nikifanyacho
Kinachokufanya tu unipende
Kwani mimi ningekuwa wewe
Ningenyanyuka nisepe – niende!!

Wala si – stahili – mimi si – stahili
Mapenzi yako yananizidi
Wala si – stahili
Pendo lako lanijaza
Lakini...

Wala sistahili
Kuwa hapa mbele zako Yesu
Wala sistahili
Kusimama mbele ya huu utakatifu

>>to Jesus - the life of my LOVE!!