Poem
Mbuyiseni Oswald Mtshali
THIS KID IS NO GOAT
Where haveall the angry young men gone?
Gone to the Island of Lament for Sharpville.
Gone overseas on scholarship.
Gone up North to milk and honeyed uhuru.
Gone to the dogs with the drink of despair.
Yesterday I met one in the bookstore:
he was foraging for food of thought
from James Baldwin, Amiri Baraka
Albet Camus, Jean-Paul Sartre.
He wore faded jeans and heavy sweater,
he saluted me with a
“Hi Brother!”
He was educated in the country mission school
where he came out clutching a rosary
as an amulet against
“Slegs vir blankes – For Whites Only!”
He enrolled at Life University
whose lecture rooms were shebeens,
hospital wards and prison cells.
He graduated cum laude
with a thesis in philosophy:
“I can’t be black and straight
In this crooked white world!
“If I tell the truth
I’m detestable.
“If I tell lies
I’m abominable.
“If I tell nothing
I’m unpredictable.
“If I smile to please
I’m nothing but an obsequious sambo.
“I have adopted jazz as my religion
with Duke Ellington, Count Basie,
Louis Armstrong as my High Priests.
“No more do I go to church
where the priest has left me in the lurch.
“His sermon is a decaying pulpit tree
to be swept away
by violent gusts of doubt and skepticism.
“My wife and kids can worship there:
They want to go to heaven when they die.
“I don’t want to go heaven when I’m dead.
“I want my heaven now,
here on earth in Houghton and Parktown;
a mansion
two cars or more
and smiling servants.
Isn’t that heaven?”
© Translation: 1971, Mbuyiseni Oswald Mtshali
From: Sounds of a Cowhide Drum
Publisher: Renoster, Johannesburg, 1971
From: Sounds of a Cowhide Drum
Publisher: Renoster, Johannesburg, 1971
Written before Leroi Jones became Amiri Baraka.
Sounds of a Cowhide Drum was first published in English in 1971 by Lionel Abrahams. The 2012 re-issue of the book carries a simultaneous translation of the poems into Zulu.
LELIZINYANE ALISIYO IMBUZI
LELIZINYANE ALISIYO IMBUZI
Ashonephiamabhunu athukuthele na?
Ashone esiQhingini sokuLIla ngenxa yeSharpeville.
Ayephesheya ngesifundaze.
AyeNyakatho obisini noju lwenkululeko.
Aye enjeni yophuzo nokuphelelwa
Ithemba.
Izolo ngihlangene nelinye esitolo sezicwadi
Belivukuza lifuna ukudla kwengqondo
Okuvela kuJames Baldwi, Amiri Baraka
Albert Camus, Jean-Paul Sartre.
Belifake ibhokathi ephuphile nejezi elinohlonze
Lingibigelele ngokuthi
“Yisho! Mfowethu!”
Lafunda esikoleni semishini esemaphandleni
Lapho laphuma linkonkoshele ilosali
njengesiphandla sokuvika
“Abamhlophe kuphela!”
Labhalisa eNyuvesithi yeMpilo
ezindlu zokufundela zingamashibhini
Amawadi esibhedlela nezitokisi.
Laphuma ngeminyezane ephezulu
nomqiqingo wolwazi ukuthi:
“Angikwazi ukubamnyama ngiqonde nto
Kulomhlaba omhlophe omagwincigwinci
“Uma ngikhuluma iqiniso
“Uma ngikhuluma amanga
Nginyanyeka kabi.
“Uma ngingasho lutho
Angiqondakali.
“Uma ngimoyizela ukujabulisa
Angilutho ngaphadle ngesithunzela.
“Sengiqoke umbholoho njengokolo lwami
lapho uDuk Ellington, Count Basie,
Louis Armstrong njengabaFundisi bami abaPhakeme
“Angisalugcobhi unyawo esontweni
Lapho umfundisi esengilahle isitakla
“Intshumayelo yakhe iyisihlahla
esibolayo soqhwakelo
oyoshanyelelwa kude le.
“Umoya onamandla ovunguza
ngokungabaza noku ngakholwa.
“Umfazi wami nezingane bangakhonza khona lapho
Bafuna okuya ezulwini umabefa.
Angifuni mina ukuya ezulwini sengifile
“Ngifuna elami izulu manje
lapha emhlabeni eHothoni nasePakitawini
Isithimuthimu sendlu
Izimoto ezimbili noma ezeqile lapho
Nezisebezi ezihlala zimamatheka.
Akusilo na izulu lelo?”
© 2012, Mbuyiseni Oswald Mtshali
From: Sounds of a Cowhide Drum / Imisindo Yesigubhu Sesikhumba Senkomo
Publisher: Jacana Media, Johannesburg
From: Sounds of a Cowhide Drum / Imisindo Yesigubhu Sesikhumba Senkomo
Publisher: Jacana Media, Johannesburg
Yabhalwa ngaphambi kokuba uLeroi Jones abe ngu Amiri Baraka.
Poems
Poems of Mbuyiseni Oswald Mtshali
Close
THIS KID IS NO GOAT
Where haveall the angry young men gone?
Gone to the Island of Lament for Sharpville.
Gone overseas on scholarship.
Gone up North to milk and honeyed uhuru.
Gone to the dogs with the drink of despair.
Yesterday I met one in the bookstore:
he was foraging for food of thought
from James Baldwin, Amiri Baraka
Albet Camus, Jean-Paul Sartre.
He wore faded jeans and heavy sweater,
he saluted me with a
“Hi Brother!”
He was educated in the country mission school
where he came out clutching a rosary
as an amulet against
“Slegs vir blankes – For Whites Only!”
He enrolled at Life University
whose lecture rooms were shebeens,
hospital wards and prison cells.
He graduated cum laude
with a thesis in philosophy:
“I can’t be black and straight
In this crooked white world!
“If I tell the truth
I’m detestable.
“If I tell lies
I’m abominable.
“If I tell nothing
I’m unpredictable.
“If I smile to please
I’m nothing but an obsequious sambo.
“I have adopted jazz as my religion
with Duke Ellington, Count Basie,
Louis Armstrong as my High Priests.
“No more do I go to church
where the priest has left me in the lurch.
“His sermon is a decaying pulpit tree
to be swept away
by violent gusts of doubt and skepticism.
“My wife and kids can worship there:
They want to go to heaven when they die.
“I don’t want to go heaven when I’m dead.
“I want my heaven now,
here on earth in Houghton and Parktown;
a mansion
two cars or more
and smiling servants.
Isn’t that heaven?”
© 1971, Mbuyiseni Oswald Mtshali
From: Sounds of a Cowhide Drum
Publisher: 1971, Renoster, Johannesburg
From: Sounds of a Cowhide Drum
Publisher: 1971, Renoster, Johannesburg
Written before Leroi Jones became Amiri Baraka.
Sounds of a Cowhide Drum was first published in English in 1971 by Lionel Abrahams. The 2012 re-issue of the book carries a simultaneous translation of the poems into Zulu.
THIS KID IS NO GOAT
Where haveall the angry young men gone?
Gone to the Island of Lament for Sharpville.
Gone overseas on scholarship.
Gone up North to milk and honeyed uhuru.
Gone to the dogs with the drink of despair.
Yesterday I met one in the bookstore:
he was foraging for food of thought
from James Baldwin, Amiri Baraka
Albet Camus, Jean-Paul Sartre.
He wore faded jeans and heavy sweater,
he saluted me with a
“Hi Brother!”
He was educated in the country mission school
where he came out clutching a rosary
as an amulet against
“Slegs vir blankes – For Whites Only!”
He enrolled at Life University
whose lecture rooms were shebeens,
hospital wards and prison cells.
He graduated cum laude
with a thesis in philosophy:
“I can’t be black and straight
In this crooked white world!
“If I tell the truth
I’m detestable.
“If I tell lies
I’m abominable.
“If I tell nothing
I’m unpredictable.
“If I smile to please
I’m nothing but an obsequious sambo.
“I have adopted jazz as my religion
with Duke Ellington, Count Basie,
Louis Armstrong as my High Priests.
“No more do I go to church
where the priest has left me in the lurch.
“His sermon is a decaying pulpit tree
to be swept away
by violent gusts of doubt and skepticism.
“My wife and kids can worship there:
They want to go to heaven when they die.
“I don’t want to go heaven when I’m dead.
“I want my heaven now,
here on earth in Houghton and Parktown;
a mansion
two cars or more
and smiling servants.
Isn’t that heaven?”
© 1971, Mbuyiseni Oswald Mtshali
From: Sounds of a Cowhide Drum
Publisher: 1971, Renoster, Johannesburg
From: Sounds of a Cowhide Drum
Publisher: 1971, Renoster, Johannesburg
Written before Leroi Jones became Amiri Baraka.
Sounds of a Cowhide Drum was first published in English in 1971 by Lionel Abrahams. The 2012 re-issue of the book carries a simultaneous translation of the poems into Zulu.
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