Farming Hymns (Kpari Yiila)
 |
| Photo Credit: Franz Kröger |
Though backs are breaking in the noonday heat,
Palms blistering from gripping rigid hoe sticks,
Sweat trickling down the groins of labouring kinsmen,
And all their muscles are taut with effort,
The smell of dark loamy earth freshly upturned
Releases a singing trapped in the lungs of men.
Have you read: Village Boy Impressions - The Matrimonial Dance
The thrill of music banishes all weariness
And even the weakest muscle would gain
Momentum to break the moist earth with iron
Whilst hearts throb with the harmonious choruses;
Hymns that at once inspire, admonish, and entertain.
Chanting the village news as well as the secrets of men,
One is forced to pay as much heed as to work harder.
Every drop
of gin sent coursing into half-empty bellies
Lends
leverage to even unwilling tongues
And the sweetness
of agreeable voices is released.
Every deed
of men is censured or eulogized;
From sexual prowess to adulterous
relations,
Nocturnal domestic quarrels and miserly neighbours,
And from mere gluttony
to revolting avarice.
The scourge of stubborn ghosts and witches
The uncharitable
host and his bitter pito
The sex-starved bachelor who knocked up the village retard
The man who
jumped into a barn to examine his foreskin
The boastful imbecile who spends all the day at the tavern
Whilst his
home and fields are overrun by wild weeds
Are all but themes for singing delightful tunes.
Read: Village Boy Impressions - Tethering Goats
Read: Village Boy Impressions - Tethering Goats
As the
whisperings and theories are intoned,
The hoes
rise and fall in unison and weeds are slain
Precious crops
are freed from their strangling hold
And hopes
for a good harvest are heightened.
In
the house, women feverishly scrub pots and calabashes
In preparation to cook the evening meal
Whilst the happily-worried host has children chasing his prized ram.
Other Poems Celebrating the North of Ghana
Halting Words for Nab Ayieta Azantilow I
Feok - the Hallowed Festival of the Bulsa
This takes me back to those days. We will help serve food in big bowls and the men will return singing passionately with their hoes hanged on their shoulders. #buluk.
ReplyDeleteAll that over venomous reptile and scorpion, millipede and centipede, the displacement of the wild bird and discovery of the hidden nest of some eggs!
ReplyDeleteIf you are a true Bulsa, you see the picture of what is being described here. I laughed when I got to this place "kparini nyonowa yig pai-diak kai ale k'a dala" ("And the happily-worried host has children chasing the prized ram"). What a true reflection of the culture!
ReplyDeleteWow! How pretty it would be if these can be maintained.
ReplyDelete