I am the first
Earth Mother of all fertility
I am the Source
I am the Nile I am the African I am the beginning
O Arabia, how
could you so conveniently have forgotten
While your
breath still hangs upon the threads of my springs
O Egypt, you
prodigal daughter born from my first love
I am your Queen
of the endless fresh waters
Who rested my
head upon the arms of Narmer Ka Menes
When we joined
in one our Upper and Lower Lands to create you
bosom of my
being
How could you so
conveniently count down
In miserable
billions of petty cubic yards
The eternal
drops of my life giving Nile to you
Beginning long
before the earth fell from the eye ball of heaven,
O Nile, that
gush out from my breath of life
Upon the throats
of the billions of the Earth's thirsty multitudes,
O World, how
could you so conveniently have forgotten
That I, your first
fountain, I your ever Ethiopia
I rise like the
sun from the deepest core of the globe
I am the
conqueror of scorching pestilences
I am the
Ethiopia that "stretch her hands in supplication to
God"
I am the mother
of the tallest traveler on the longest journey on Earth
My name is
Africa I am the mother of the Nile.
O Nile, my
prodigal daughter on the wilderness of the desert
Bringing God's
harmony to all brothers and sisters
And calming down
their noises of brass in their endless nakednesses
O Nile, you are
music that restore the rhythm of existence
Into the awkward
stampeding of these Middle Eastern blindnesses
You are the
irrigator that cultivate peace
From my
Ethiopian sacred mountains of the sun
Across to nod on
the East of Aden and across Sinai
Beyond Gibraltar
into the heights of Mount Moriah
O Nile, my
chosen sacrifice for universal peace offering
Upon whose gift
the heritages of Meroe and Egypt
Still survive
for the benefit of our lone World
You are the
proud daughter O Nile, who taught
The ancient
world how to walk in upright grace
You are my
prodigal daughter who saved and breast fed
Little lost
Jacob whose brothers sold for food
You, who
nurtured, fed and raised
The child
prophet called Moses on your cradle,
You, who
stretched out your helping hand and protected
The baby Christ
from the slaughtering swords of their Herods,
O Nile, my
infinite prodigal daughter
At whose feet
mountains like Alexander bent
Their unbendable
heads to drink from your life giving milk,
O Nile, at whose
feet giants like Caesar Knelt
Conquerors like
Napoleon bowed
Their unbowable
heads to partake from your immortal bounty.
O Nile, you are
the majestic blood line of my African glory
That shower my
blessings upon the starved of the world
You are the
eloquence that ring the Ethiopian bell across the deaf world You
are the gifted
dancer of graceful rhythms
That harmonize
with your sisters Atbara and Shabale
With your
brothers Awash and Juba
To fertilize the
scorched sands of Arabia
O Nile, without
your gift Mediterranea shall be a rock of dead waters
And Sahara shall
be a basket of skeletons
You are Africa's
black soil that produce life
You are the milk
that quench the thirsty multitudes
You are the
messenger of my gospel, O Nile
That bring my
abundant harvest to the mouth of the needy
You are the
elegant pilgrim of my mercy.
You are the
first fountain you are the first ever Ethiopia
You are the
appeaser of the lustful greeds
You are the
first Earth Mother of all fertility
Rising like the
sun from the deepest core of the globe
You are the
conqueror of the scorching pestilence
You are the
source you the Africa you are the Ethiopia you are the Nile.
- Tsegaye Gebre-Medhin, Ethiopian Poet
Laureate, August 1997
ምንም አስተያየቶች የሉም:
አስተያየት ይለጥፉ