Dal: Kanada / Soomaaliya
Ka: Majalladda “Bildhaan”
Turjumay: Samatar Maxamad Siciid
I.
Mar bay xataa dacarta dhashaa ubax dhabaq leh
Oo aad fuuqsadtaa
Waxaan ahay macaan iyo qaraar isku meel ku beeran.
II
Midigtayda iyo bidixdayda gacmood waa mataano
Mid baa maddadaalisa martida oo daadihisa maatada
Midda kale waa magli tifqiya hareef iyo sibir shiix.
III
Maandhow, waxaan hodan ku leeyahay
Camalo talantaalisan
Hay maleeynin macankak miskiin
Suke ah
Ku miigan mas’aladiisa balo.
IV
Mar baan ahay muddeec
Camalsan
Mooganba shar.
V
Mar baan ahay laayaan madaxadag
Dhagarqabe miiran.
VI
Mar baan ahay saahid u mawlac gala
masjid
si uu u baaro nolashiisa una saafiyo qalbigiisa.
VII
Mar baan ahay mukhawi
Madaxfalluuqa ka faataadhugleeya makhmarad kasta ee Soomaaliya;
Aad haddayto
Waxaan kugu tusi doonaa afxumo wayn
Jurxada’iyo
Caashada waalan’iyo
Biyaha waalan’iyo
Ilaa koobku buuxdhaafo.
VIII
Mar baan ku ahay maqaddin liqdaaran
Shataar
Xikmad
Jaajaale
Muuno
Dulqaad
Masaamax.
IX
Mar baan ahay saaqid
Daadufka magacla’.
X
Mar baan ahay ninka u ogalaanin
Wax xaaraan
Wax xalaal galin
Inuu maro jidiinkiisa.
Xl
Mar baan ahay tuug dhaartay
Aanan dhaafin
Xataa agoonka sadkiisa.
XII
Mar baan ahay madaxa muftiyo khalwaad iyo maqaan awliyaad.
XIII
Mar baan ahay xubinka mudan ee madasha Shaydaanka
Isla Cifriidka wadnahiisa dabataagan.
XIV
Dameer qabwayn
Ma isku kay taagi karo
Oo waxaa la ii sameeyay
Si haybad leh
Si wacdaro leh
Oo waxaan u qabtaa dullaal Geeldhugeeyeyaal
Oo waxaan u qabtaa dugsi Geeldhugeeyeyaal
Oo waan xuubsiibtaa oo is baddalaa.
XV
Maalin soo gasha’iyo
Maalin tagta
Maalintiiba waan is rogaa
Subax kasta muuggayga si ka duwan buu u yahay
Midab kale
Caqiido kale
Waan aqaanaa sida laysugu makmakeeyo oo loola meerteeysto
Muslinka iyo gaalkaba, faranjiga, kaafirka daanyeer
Malaa’ikta naarta iyo jannadaba way ku murantaa naftayda danbiqabta soomaali.
XVI
Ninna ma igu soo raadgaarin
Camaladan talantaalisan aan raadreebo
Ninse maalmo badan soo jiray
Mid madaxiisa wada ciro ah
Ama
Mid garan kara ninnimo
Baa dhacda inuu qaado cabbirkayga saxan.
XVII
Nin kastow
Soo qaado
Kaada ugu macaan
Kaada ugu haboon
Kaada halqabsi ugu wacan
Si aad iigu naanaysto.
XVIII
Adiga!
Kaada jooga halkaas!
Kuraygay labaclabac
La kudaankudi mas’alada
Wadnahaada ka dabo kadleeynayo
Ama midda aad la joogi la’dahay mooyee
Inaad igu kadeediso
Inaad igu xanaakadeeyso
Inaad igula kajanto
Inaad igu kala jeexdo
Inaad igu madoobeeyso
Inaad igu xanadteeyso.
XIX
Waran
Waa ku kaa
Iska soo mar
Oo marin baan kuu baneeyaa.
XX
Fadlan
Abaabso oo abraarso
Ku dhawaaq oo awaaji
Daabac oo ka gilgilsii
Fartii leefe
Fartii fiiqe
Fartii dhagax-ku-tuure
Fartii baas Aayatullah seeflaboodka fatwada
Fartii fidno wade
Faduushaada jaajaale.
XXI
Fadlan
Haadtan’iyo
Halkan
Hohaay! Hantaataca Hebel waxaad u hoobsanaysaa qalbigaada munaafaqa foosha xun.
Sweetness and Bitterness
I.
Sometimes even the aloes bear honeyed flowers
Whose nectar you slurp
I am sweetness and bitterness planted in the same place.
II
My right hand and my left hand are twins
One entertains the guests and walks the weak
The other is a dagger dripping woes and wormwood.
III
My boy, I am rich
I contain countless contraries
Do not take me for a poor miskiin2 monomaniac
Out on a limb
Hectoring for his bloody hobbyhorse.
IV
Sometimes I am faithfully obedient
Well-mannered
Utterly innocent of Evil.
V
Sometimes I am the obdurate destroyer
An arrant knave.
VI
Sometimes I am the anchorite who sequesters himself in the
mosque
To review his life and purify his heart.
VII
Sometimes I am the villain
The loony who blusters in every saloon in Somalia
Go to now
I’ll prove thee with mighty-mouthed Evil
Till my cup runneth over
With contumely
With crazy Asha
With crazywater.
VIII
Sometimes I am the towering heads
Of wit
Of wisdom
Of waggery
Of honor
Of forbearance
Of forgiveness.
IX
Sometimes I am the loafer
The nowhere man with no name in the street.
X
Sometimes I am a man who does not allow
Anything Haraan3
Anything not kosher
Go past his gullet.
Xl
Sometimes I am a thief dyed-in-the-wool
Who does not spare
Even the orphan’s share.
XII
Sometimes I am the leader of silent sages and high-ranking saints.
XIII
Sometimes I am an honorable member of Satan’s conclave
After the fiend’s very own heart.
XIV
A presumptuous jackass
Cannot size me up
For I am
Fearfully
Wonderfully
Fashioned
For I run interference for chameleons
For I run schools for chameleons
For I chop and change.
XV
Day in
Day out
Daily I turn
Every morning my mien is distinctly
Of different color
Of different creed
I know how to huddle and hobnob
With both Muslims and heathen honky alien monkey ofay kaffirs
The angels of Hell and Heaven argue over my sinful Somali soul.
XVI
No man has traced to me
All these contraries I trail
But a man of many days
One whose head is hoary
Or
One who is hip to sizing men up
May possibly take my proper measure.
XVII
’O every man Jack
Pick
Your sweetest
Your aptest
Your most magnificent metaphor
To brand me with.
XVIII
You
Over there
My hobbledehoy
Hop on the hobbyhorse
Your heart hobbles after
Or the one you can’t help but
Harass me with
Tease me with
Taunt me with
Tear me with
Tar me with
Feather me with.
XIX
Speak
Right on
Ride on
For I make means for you.
XX
Please
Prowl and Pounce
Pronounce and proclaim
Publish and brandish
Your finger-licking
Your finger-pointing
Your finger-stone-throwing
Your finger-frigging Ayatollah fanatical fatwa
Your finger-wagging fitna4
Your farcical fatude.5
XXI
Please
Right now
Right here
Holler the Hobson’s hooey you are hoarding in your horrible
hypocrite heart.
Notes
1. B.W. Andrzejewski with Sheila Andrzejewski, An Anthology of Somali Poetry (Bloomington:
University of Indiana, 1993), pp. 88–89.
2. pauper
3. forbidden
4. Fitna, an Arabic word, means troublemaking.
5. Fatude, a Somali word, implies a mixture of self-importance and connivance
