MUMVURI WEMASHOKO
Poetry
Kuungudza kwe Afrika
Chiutsi chinopfungaira pasina moto ndicho chokachidza vana kumadokera,
Kumaodzanyemba vana votunhwinha mudhidho reropa,
Vachikupurazve ziya romutunhu murefu wafambwa,
Kuchamhembe runyararo rwangova madambu rikiti mutariko wemamvemve,
Hore nhema ndiyo yodai kudzimaidza zviroto zvevana,
Maungira okutinhira kweisinganayi ndiwo obatisa ndumure nebuka,
Idzo dzorara dzichivhumuka sedzakagariswa pamuururo wakatsvuka,
Kuri kurotazve gehena remoto wapedza rudzi
Vanaamai midya yembereko yodambuka nokubereka zvimbambaira,
Vana vachisvuuka matumbu nokugwesha sekunge vana amai vakatsva misana,
Pamoyo womuzinda ndumure dzopiwa gururo rezamu nokupakatiswa gidi,
Kuungudza kwevari pauranda yatova mhanzi kune vari padehwe reshumba,
Vane zvitaka zvakatsimbirirwa nemabwe omusarasara,
Uku pwere dzosvimha misodzi nesikarudzi pavanonzwa mitsindo yavo,
Nhasi Africa yangova bindu risina ruzhowa,
Yangova zhowe-zhowe mumuzinda mevanhu vatema,
Nhasi Africa yangova bindu risina ruzhowa,
Yotanyangwa newese mubvakure,
Simbe dzine dzakapinzira kuba zvevapfupi nekureba,
Unyanzvi hwoutesvedzerwa hwaZame hwoshaura zviratidzo zviskna anonzwa,
Africa! Africa! Africa!
Zvondidzimba panyama nhete,
Maungira emapopoma chaiwo hapana achaanzwa,
Ko madiiko makuya mukabika hwenjera?
Marutsisa dzenyu ndumure dzakadyiswa matumbu enyuchi zvichinzi usavi,
Mipendere yehapwa dzepfungwa yonjenjemera dikita rouranda,
Joki revapambenjere razoti name patiri,
Ichiva nyere yogofa nokutuvidza urombe matiri zvisina matyira,
Uhwo hwati zototo mune dzedu pfungwa– sezvo ngetani dzemaoko nemakumbo vakarasa kare..
MAGUMO.
Whimper of Africa (English Translation)
Masses are reeling behind the choking screens of gunpowder and teargas.
Ruthless human massacres become incontrovertibly indigenous in the cambers of the society.
Meanwhile, children of the soil yearn due to prolonged toil for a song.
Perfect peace of the society had ever been surrogated by the furore of disillusioned masses.
Diabolic political propensity and nonplus miscalculation render the future pallid for the populace.
Cosmetic policies and empty promises become mind boggling.
As the disgruntled generality are enduring to cope with herculean livelihood matrices.
Even the women are swinking in the battle fronts.
While untainted children are languishing in the hot pool of indigence, swinging at the receiving end of unremitting wrangling.
That injurious corner of the world where children are bestowed with guns instead of toys.
Those in the debauched castles pleasure in sadism and the throbbing indigence of the populace.
The same licentious cabal at the helm of the society who delight in subterfuge, oppression and stifling of people’s voice.
They won’t sent the rumbling and shuddering wave of petrification among the children.
Ooh Africa, you are hanging on the susceptible end of imperialism.
And oscillating at the sturdy string of neocolonial intrigues.
With unimaginable porosity to cultural influx.
There is semblance of discombobulation in the Blackman’s land.
As the world beyond Africa jostles for the wealth enshrined under the African soil,
They covet to syphon day and night, in whatever subtle way possible.
God endowed you with resources that lie dormant underneath your huts and fields, Africa, Africa, Africa.
See your children are flatly dancing to the Western political fandango in a drastically blinkered mould.
Mental disentanglement from hypnosis lays a firm pedestal towards freeing colonised minds.
Slavery has taken a novel dimension that pushes people at the extremest sphere of gullibility.
The whole lot is wallowing under the eternal yoke of imperialistic ideology.
That bolsters the painstaking fragments of pauperism in the elements of the society.
Deeply engraved in the core of every soul’s mind to the hazard of ruining independent thinking.
Nevertheless, the slavery metamorphosed into a novel dimension devoid of force, but treachery.
Zhira yekwambuya
Kuvhiima kwowokumabvazuva,
kudya bandauko imbwa dzichiseva mutuvi.
Kwete yemurungano,
hapana chembwa tenzi varariira mangai.
Pamajapato egombo
maiti ndichaisawo tseu yangu.
Padzaichema ndumure
mukati muchaipukuta yaturuka muzhizha,
Ndaigozivei kuti chaiva chirauro chemashoko,
Dzvetera matadza utsi hwechiguba.
Takarinonokera zhizha!
Netseu haiisisina mashizha,
Kutozoona dzotanhaurwa senhata.
Kugocha mukati kunoda kwaamai,
Nemunyoso makundibvutira kuti muise mwezha wekwambuya,
Kutonongora wangu muromo wakangoshama.
Ko kuziva mbuya huudzwazve…..
Path to the Grandmother (English Translation)
They hunt from the east,
and the best meat is shared among the hunters, while the dogs that catch the prey are left with only broth from the pot.
This isn’t just a story,
There is nothing for the dogs, because the master has nothing for dinner.
looked at the virgin land
and wished I could take a piece and work on it myself.
I didn’t understand then-it was a hook of words, a bait to draw me into learning,
like smoke from a cigar stub: there for a moment, then gone.
Now it’s too late to harvest.
Even my small groundnut plot is bare, stripped clean like lice from a scalp.
Roasting is only for mothers; children are blamed for putting out the fire
You snatched my maize cob from me
and showed me grandmother’s hidden path – the faint trail only mice usually follow.
I stood there in surprise, my mouth open and stunned.
Because you can’t truly know your grandmother unless someone teaches you the way.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Musariri Musariri
