Village Songs
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Children dancing 'Nagela' in front of a compound.
Photo Credit: Franz Kröger (buluk.de)
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And the fields lie empty and desolate
When the groundnuts are all plucked
The Bambara beans dug up roots and all
When all the sorghum in the field is felled
And only sharp prickly remnants remain
When tethering the goats is now ended
And the boys gain such a relief
As to sigh with gratitude bordering on piety
Read: Village Boy Impressions - Tethering Goats
When the shepherds no more chase the sheep
The cowherds no longer shout at errant bulls
And the moon is happy enough
To make the cripple hungry for a walk,
Do we nightly gather before the house;
Mothers, fathers, uncles, and aunts,
Teens, children, toddlers and babies
Brothers, sisters, nephews, and nieces
With cousins, bastards and orphans too.
There we tell many a tale and laugh
Unrestrained juvenile squealing
That rouses the sleeping chickens and ducks.
We would sing
our very hearts out:
Songs of winning and losing
That teach many a life lesson clear
Songs of living, fiddling and dying
That make us morose and less garrulous Songs of loving and wooing
At which we smile and sigh and wink, Songs of
war, daring and conquest
As we dance
ourselves lame and dusty.
The dancing
would raise a cloud to heaven
And the
singing could wake a drunken god
Long into the watches of the night
There is no stopping us
Until we
see the jealous moon
Hurrying to
her bed
And the
insomnious rooster flapping his wings
To announce
the approach of dawn
Only then
do we break up the revelry
And
departing in groups or pairs
Make for
our weary mats
Hungry and
satisfied both at once.
Other Poems Celebrating the North of Ghana
Halting Words for Nab Ayieta Azantilow I
Feok - the Hallowed Festival of the Bulsa
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