Ni yeye mwenye wenyewe, mwenye asili na kwao
Ni yeye huyu ambaye, amebeba dira yao
Ndiye kwao alo yeye, na yeye kwake ni wao
Author: Mohammed Ghassani
Multimedia Journalist. Poet. Author.
Miye Zombi/I am a Zombie
Mama aliponizaa, alidhani kazaa mtu
Akanilea nikuwe
Akanifunza ili niwe
Binaadamu si jiwe
Bali mara akazuka –
Nduli akaja nitwaa!
When my mother gave birth to me
She thought she’d brough a human being
To this challenging world
She brought me up
And taught me how to behave
As a human being and not an animal
But then came a monster and took me away!
Kati ya Pendo na Chuki/The Line Between Love and Hate
Kati ya pendo na chuki, pana mpaka mwembamba
Hata pima haufiki, ukiupima kwa kamba
Jana ulomuashiki, nyimboni ukamuimba
Leo bure humtaki, akitajwa unavimba
A line between love and hate is but so thin
Not even a yard if measured with thread
The one whom you yesterday desired –
For whom you sang all songs
Today, they are just rubbishÂ
And good for nothing
Dunia ni Ndogo/So Small is This World
Dunia ni ndogo, haitoshi kuficha siriyo
Tafuta pengine, kama napo, watu ‘siwe nayo
Kwa dunia hii, ni bilashi kuyasiri hayo
‘Kisema ni uzushi, ‘taoneshwa yale yaliyo
Dunia ya mtandao!
So small is this world to hide your actions
Search for somewhere else if ever be
For this world nothing you could hide
And when you deny, you’d be shown all that were
The world of networks!
Mbona?/Why a U-Turn?
Mbona wesema husemi, na hivi umo wasema, kipi kikusemacho?
Ulisema husimami, kwako ni mbele daima, kipi kikurejeshacho?
Wesema husemi nami, tena kwa kunamba koma, leo kipi kikupacho?
You said you wouldn’t say anything
Yet now you do
What makes you do so?
You said you wouldn’t stop
Forward you would go
What makes turn back?
You said you wouldn’t speak to me
You even told me to behave
Why has now today prompted you –
Why are taking a U-Turn?
Soundtrack: Ally F. Juma
Kwa Nyakati Hizi/At This Moment
Kwa nyakati hizi, za mwisho wa siku, tungo naiandika
Moyoni simanzi, punde ni usiku, giza litazuka
Uje uduwanzi, niwe zumbukuku, nishindwe kumbuka
Nguvu zinihizi, nifungwe vikuku, na kuporomoka
Kurasa zishafungika!
At this moment of the end of the day, this poem I compose
My heart is so lonely as the night will soon come, so will the darkness
Tiredness will come and demented I will be, who nothing remembers
My strength will be taken away and will be handcuffed and down I will fall
Because my pages have been closed!
10 Forgotten Heroes of Tanganyika: #1 – Kleist Abdullah Sykes
The last decades of 1800 found Tanganyika in the midst of nationalist movements and wars against German invasion and occupation. One man behind the onset of these wars was Abushiri (Bashir bin Salim Al-Harthi from Zanzibar), who was based at Pangani, Tanga. Continue reading “10 Forgotten Heroes of Tanganyika: #1 – Kleist Abdullah Sykes”
