Driven
by whistling wind
The
drumming of the rain
Becomes
melodic
Sings
the trees to frenzy
And beckons the spirits
My
chest heaves
My spirit is stretching his wings
I
rise and walk to the window
My spirit is flapping with the trees
This
trance dance
The
trees shaking off frail leaves
This
trance dance
My
spirit shaking off frail feathers
Nyasaye
Nyakalaga2!
Notes:
1.
Uref. My village.
2.
Nyasaye Nyakalaga. Literally, "Nyasaye that crawls everywhere and
on/over/inside everything." In their conception of The Force, before they
were taught to think of Him/Her/It as God, the ancient Luo regarded Nyasaye as
a spiritual Presence that could disperse (in all manner of ways) and inhabit
all kinds of phenomena - living and non-living, animate and inanimate - and
imbue them with a Vital Force ....
Prof. T. Michael Mboya teaches
in the Department of Literature, Theatre and Film Studies at Moi University,
Eldoret, Kenya
@TomMichaelMboya
@TomMichaelMboya
