A Lover's Song
A LOVER'S SONG
My lover is as elegant as Mwanda
She is a dark mirror in the sun radiating beauty and charm
Achieng has big round eyes and teeth as white as goat’s milk
Yet now I sing the song of a broken heart
For the iron snake has come and my departure I must take
Yuorauru, yuorauru… jaherana has left me.
As I take leave I fear. That as a feast attracts a gathering or a carcass does flies so my lover’s pulchritude will attract men.
Thirsty men will come, joteko kod agog. And I know just how persistent they will soothe my lover just to tap from her well.
They will linger and slaver like flies circling an open wound and obsess over her like hyenas trailing the scent of a carcass, seducing the beloved one of kayuocha
Opiyo owadwa watch over my ripened field. For a wife is a treasure to all. To me and to you.
I could not behold alas, the sight of another man kissing Achi.
I fume at the sight of Jawuot Gweng feeling the fullness of her ripened breasts. Anger burns within me at the sound of incessant sighs and passionate moans as my lover mates with another fool.
My heart is torn out of bewilderment yet fate has parted me from Osiepna.
For a man does not leave his meat outside, for the vultures will swoop and grab his spoil...
Menyo has sent me away… far from my in-law’s treasure.
My return is after six moons and all I have is fear and sometimes I hope still.
To return to the daughter of Ugenya whom I treasure, and get her home to my mother.
How I cry when I think of it... tears overwhelm my being jowadwa.
For my precious ornament lies exposed by the roadside…she may wait for her lover to return but just as I fear, she may soil her purity to quench the thirst that burns within
The lusts and passions of one’s youth may consume but I will yet hope and sing…a song for the one I love.
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Copyright © Otieno Ouma | Year Posted 2023
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