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Nsamu Moonga Poem
Immortality
Thinking of all those nights
When we sang songs and shared dreams
Believing each of our life’s tunnels glimmered lights
Caresses me with uni-verse’s dazzling beams.
I have not lost it all since you were gone
I feel you in the communion of the galaxies
I know it’s not all foregone
Somewhere, somewhere you live in my soul’s palaces.
I’ll not mourn your departure no longer.
For in my recesses I know the truth of your living.
Extinction has swallowed itself in hunger.
Whole truth must I hold; I am believing.
Be at peace; do not hurt.
Smile some warmth on my winter days.
Unfetter the resounding pounding of your heart.
Echo your palate’s rhythm with cosmic rays.
With you there are no more ‘hellos’ and ‘goodbyes’.
Never would anyone say ‘I hate to see you go’
Nor ‘but I love to watch you leave’ lies.
You have embodied love immortal.
Know this that even in the darkest of moments,
We believe it will shine.
You and I through life’s torrents
Shall keep singing.
Copyright © Nsamu Moonga 2012
Copyright © Nsamu Moonga | Year Posted 2012
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Nsamu Moonga Poem
In My Language
This you might not know is a conversation,
It’s a conversation not of persons.
This is a conversation of multiple languages.
If you could observe the functions of my mind,
You would marvel at the thought processes
Criss-crossing ideas in various languages
I am not sorry for not thinking in one language only.
I am happy that the multiplicity of languages
Offers me just as multiple images;
Here you are thinking I am writing this in English,
Yes. But know this that what you see in this language
Is thought through ciTonga, through, siLozi and even
Through ichiBemba and chiChewa
How more purer can an idea be created!?
You sure do not know that a dog in siLozi is nja…
To know the word ‘dog’ I need to imagine ‘nja’
How else would I know its meaning?
To write a sentence, I must have thought about it
Three times more than you reading this…
‘Wait a minute’ in my language does not mean sixty ticking bits
That’s what it means to you…
In my language your minute could last a year…
You wonder why ninety days is more than ten years!
Wait a minute darling…welcome to my world.
In my language things are winding.
Don’t ever make the mistake of thinking that a ‘chimbwi’
Refers only to the animal ‘hyena’
It should; but does it?
In my language, you are safe if you do not translate anything.
Say ‘chikala’ and you will be cheered on
Translate that to some uncivilized language…
It’d be too civil for the hearing.
We do not name, we image in my language…
Love imaged as someone’s property
Think of a car that one really cares for…
That’d not sound real romantic in your ears…
In my language a mate would dance hearing
Being referred to as a well-tended car…
In my language, unlike yours, ‘fat’ is a compliment
Sex is communicated through naughty dances.
No one is exempted from these dances.
Even people in public offices show desire…
What you see…that’d not what you get.
The smiles carry within them deep felt grief.
They hope their loved one would come back.
He has prayed his goodbyes without facing them.
They wait for a minute; they still wait.
They sing dirges as the sun sets
There you are thinking they are morning a loss
In truth, they are rehearsing for a soon to occur demise
The disease without a name has come to visit yet again.
In my language stories are a norm
Alcoholic drinks accompany the tales
We have long known how to play our ‘ngoma’
The sound of ngoma does not mean anything to you; maybe
We know the differences in pulses;
Which announces a birth and which a death
There are fewer birth sounds…not birth to this side
Many births to the other side…
In my language Christmas is not the birth of some strange child.
It is for eating and drinking rare food and beverages.
The free range chickens know where to hide…
The greens wave with joy; they celebrate…
The not so nimble white hens pray in surrender…
The young and the old flirt…what a sight…
All adorned in new regalia…
In my language…
Nsamu Moonga
© Copyright.2012. All Rights Reserved. Nsamu Moonga
Copyright © Nsamu Moonga | Year Posted 2012
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Nsamu Moonga Poem
‘To be or not to be was the question’,
That’s today’s challenge.
When I am truly myself,
I am truly divine.
When I am,
I let thou be I am.
Enter each others space
In great communion
Of I am.
No words spoken,
No speeches prepared,
No trophies to be won,
No fear of loss,
All is gift.
All is celebrated.
To feel the intensity of heat,
The frightening cold,
The comforting warmth
And want nothing else.
To enter deeply into each moment,
Knowing it’s all there is,
And I am no where else,
Here I am looking.
The magpie I see I am,
The turtle-dove I am,
The sleepy cat I am,
Breath and no breath,
The space between breaths,
The winged and the non-legged,
The fire and the dirt,
All I am.
Nsamu Moonga
Copyright © Nsamu Moonga | Year Posted 2014
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Nsamu Moonga Poem
THE DREAM LIVES ON
I shall arise and drive forward
The future is not tomorrow
Today is all I have.
I hunger for progress,
Living in this world of contrasts,
The young and the old despair
I shall arise and drive forward.
I relish the beauty in the present
Moment that promises the holiness
Of life now and in the moment of finality
The future is not tomorrow
Today is all I have.
My heart craves for satisfaction,
Of the parching thirst desert like
A light in the tunnel of my life’s travels
To meet with the dream of my creation
Today is all I have.
The elder’s coals are in embers
The desert nights are snowy
Desire to warm myself
With the fire from those ahead of us
I shall arise and drive forward.
With embers gone comes new fire
New wine in new wine skins
We birth a new source, new warmth
Aiding us to start new journeys
Meet with pilgrims from afar
Today is all I have.
This fierce dream defies the law
Of death, does it rise again?
Like a phoenix from the embers
Of deadened living in this world of contrast.
The dream lives on.
By MOONGA NSAMU
©March 2012
Copyright © Nsamu Moonga | Year Posted 2012
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Nsamu Moonga Poem
FEEL AFRICA
Silence!
Silence Africa!
One can hardly get Africa to be silent;
Africa habours a pulsating bubble.
Everyone in Africa bounces to rhythm resilient.
Africa, like Zambia, or
Zambia, like Africa;
Dear ones, whichever comes first
Swells with energy in the sun!
You see not the pulse;
You feel every ounce.
Feel it now!
Woo! Woo! Is it fun or funny?
Africa loves to dance.
The continent is one huge drum;
One complete dance!
They work hard too.
Mothers and daughters,
Fathers and sons;
Mothers-in-law and daughters-in-law
Of Africa work hard
They fetch water; they collect wood.
They pound corn; they cook their food.
In all their creation,
People of Africa have one ingredient;
SONG!
You hear them sing while pounding corn.
Phew! Phew! Wow!
At funerals we sing and dance,
At weddings, even more song and dance.
Nothing has ever stopped Africa from dancing;
Yes! Even the tragedies we’ve known;
The genocides and ethnic cleansings,
in the heart of the continent.
Apartheid in the Cape of Good Hope;
Starvation, hunger, war;
Famines, droughts and floods
In the great lakes and the horn of Africa!
We have mourned;
We have questioned!
Mmmh! Courage!
Courage is what kept us alive.
We felt like throwing it away;
Accepting defeatist tendencies;
Choose revenge; and hurt;
Not with Africa.
We have come out reassured.
We have emerged tested in fire;
More finer and stronger than before
We can afford to pray!
We are like lions; the pride of the universe.
Our pride lies in our landscapes; the mountains
And the valleys;
the plateaus and the savannahs.
Free flowing rivers,
Connect us with worlds near and far.
We accommodate strangers as our rivers instruct.
Strangers of the Indian and Atlantic Oceans;
The seas and lakes!
They brought the world to us
as they did bring us to the world;
the Zambezi, the Nile and the Congo.
They have made us larger than we have ever been.
We can join in the songs and dances of others
As they can join ours too.
Come join us; feel at home!
Feel Africa!
One Zambia, my dear one;
The little star of copper.
You shine deep in the heart of the continent;
Warming the cold and frightened neighbours!
The blessing you are is the blessing you offer.
You exemplify unity in multiplicity,
Of languages and ethnicity;
Be not afraid copper star.
Shine as bright as you do;
Only warmer!
All rights reserved.
Copyright © Nsamu Moonga | Year Posted 2012
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Nsamu Moonga Poem
Sleep Baby Sleep
Sleep baby sleep
In my arms one more time
No more shall you weep,
Moan nor whine.
Now you shall know
The foolishness once again
of being known and understood
by a being other than yourself.
In this one moment
Of finding yourself in other,
Your walls built to hold
Your well-preserved tiny-self
Come crumbling down.
There are no rules here.
Go with the flow,
Permit to be held, be bounced,
Warmed in the perspiration of other.
Close your sunny eyes,
Hold your feverish breath.
Feel the coupling.
Copyrights ©2015 All Rights Reserved. Nsamu Moonga
Copyright © Nsamu Moonga | Year Posted 2015
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Nsamu Moonga Poem
On Being Romantic
Hi, When you see this note, know that I am thinking of you.
Know that your heartbeat is in unison with mine.
My pulse is otherwise irregular but when with you,
it beats one beat in syncronicity with your regular one.
I feel like an adolescent again.
Falling in love for the first time.
Writing my first love letter
to a woman I thought would be my love forever.
Living in this world created for the insane.
That's where I belong.
Love knows no sanity.
One thing I know for sure is that;
there is something inside me
that wants you and I to grow old and up together.
There is something inside me
that knows that you create in me
the climate good enough for my growth
and the growth of our little children.
It does not frighten to tell.
It frightens to think.
To think that when the sun sets,
we shall be apart.
It pains to think that even when I have bled my heart
to show my total surrender to your soul, I will be sleeping alone.
You, like the morning star, shine in my life when it seems darkest.
The days with you are a warm breeze on a winter's day.
I will knock at your heart's door until you let me in.
It's cold out here.
I know I am male
Becoming a man
You make me chose
Being a gentleman.
(c) Copyright. All Rights Reserved. Moonga Nsamu 10/2012
Copyright © Nsamu Moonga | Year Posted 2012
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Nsamu Moonga Poem
A Walk Under the Stars
We take a walk under the stars...
Where we stop...
And gaze up above...
Inevitably, you bend over to kiss me
I respond ... Willingly, hungrily...
The hunger...the heat...the sweetness
The pleasure heightens
The feeling is high...
I flow rhythmically...
And the dance
The music...
The fire
The strength
The warmth
You would not believe that we could reach the eclipsed moon
You and I take that walk...
You in the lead...
How far do you want us to go...?
Feel we wouldn't be walking for too long...
This hunger...the heat...the sweetness
Bet you are soooo hard!
I want to feel you thrusting hard into me.
Punching over and over
Hot, hard and sweating
The music...
The fire
The strength
The warmth
I'm groaning
You are driving me wild
The desire is bursting out of me...
Into dance
Music
Into fire
Nsamu Moonga. All rights Reserved.
Copyright © Nsamu Moonga | Year Posted 2012
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Nsamu Moonga Poem
Welcome Home
I knew it the moment you looked at me
That you would judge me and decide
I was the guy you had in mind
As the only one of his kind
Too bad to say that you are not always
On my mind; you are not my academic research
Material that I’d fill plain pages with
But forever in my heart; here with me you soul search
Wait a minute for my fear to subside.
I know you think I am the one who stands
In front of you enchanting your evenings,
Taking your breath away
Truth be told; I borrow this image I bring to you.
I leave myself at home, where I am safe to be
As I know that you’d not like me
But soon the owner of this image will come for it.
When he comes, he’ll ask me for his image
Or ask me to pay a high fee for it
Give me a minute to go and pick my self
Or bring my home to you so that with
My home here and you in it
I will feel safe to be me
I have no money to pay the image owner
But I have enough to bring my home to you
Please forgive me for the inconvenience
Of having to swap my self
Understand that I was afraid you’d not like me
My self at home is honest and adorable
Now that I know you love me
I can bring my home here for you to meet me
And I give this image back to the owner
It has been painful to be someone else
A minute will bring you to my home
Where you will meet with myself
Close and personal; intimate and pure
Welcome home.
©copyright. Nsamu Moonga 2013. All rights reserved.
Copyright © Nsamu Moonga | Year Posted 2017
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Nsamu Moonga Poem
It is a Sunday morning.
The day before was still,
yet eventful and surprising:
sacredness met in holy places
and inspired persons.
Petrified trees and slave traders’ bedrooms;
cattle grazing and the ancient one sleeping.
The quiet sounds of lit boats by night,
and the sounds of men returning home
to meet with the people they love –
those who love them.
They sing and dance around their catches.
The wind carries the sounds miles on end,
conspiring to bring home love never possessed.
The one who loves me never says goodbye.
I am lullabied by the twinkling of the boat lights,
an assortment of colours.
I am awakened by the voice of the one who loves me –
The one I love –
in the sound of the waves of the lake;
the colour of the lake speaks primordial presence.
‘Good night’ and ‘good morning’ are not words any more.
They contain the eternal call to
being still and knowing that where I am is eternal Presence.
I am here to learn how to be human as if for the first time.
I am drawn back to the place
where I learned to walk and talk;
the place where I learned to love and laugh;
the place where I learned to live and leave;
I learned to query and question;
search and never be satisfied by little.
The one who loves me – the one I love –
has known this journey even before it began,
long before I imagined it.
It began in eternity and ends nowhere.
I arise to the awareness that love is
not for the knowing.
It is in the little awe at the
sight of the vastness of a lake;
hearing the sound of the morning wind,
the sound of the waves knocking on the
door of the lake;
delighting in the brightness of the colours of the birds;
in holding on to the fear of otherness in
animals we call wild;
in the cuddle of the one who loves me –
the one I love;
in a mother embracing her child to security;
in the fright due to a sinking boat;
in the courage of a night-time fisherman;
in the drunkenness of a dreaming young man;
in the playfulness of a kapenta seller;
the closeness of a child on mother’s back;
the silences of the winding roads;
the inquisitiveness of a little child;
in the confidence of a babe;
in the enjoyment of song and dance of a grown-up man;
in the pleasure of friendship;
the communion of family;
the embrace of loving spouses;
in the laughter of young lovers;
in the trust of daring divers;
the sacrifices of trench diggers;
the freshness of cold drinking water;
shared dreams and fears;
the strength of the dam walls;
trusting the bridge will hold you;
the welcome of the shrines;
the generosity of those we love;
the daring of the swimming child;
the warnings of crocodiles and hippos;
the heat and the sweating;
the savour of food and drink;
in the beautiful places and the ugly;
the contrast between pools and the lake;
the pain of returning to business as usual;
the tear on parting…
The one I love –
and the one who loves me –
truly never says goodbye.
Copyright © Nsamu Moonga | Year Posted 2013
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