Unlike the longer gabay poems of Somalia, the buraambur is a poem composed by women for women — although men have been known to be interested listeners. In this example of the buraambur, a woman sings of her love for someone she has only had the pleasure of meeting once.
Oh, you are like a kilt which a young dandy set out to choose,
Oh, you are like a costly ring for which thousands were paid:
Will I ever find your like — you who have been shown to me only once?
An umbrella comes apart; you are looped iron.
Oh, you are as the gold of Nairobi, finely moulded,
You are the risen sun and the early days of dawn.
Will I ever find your like — you who have been shown to me only once?
from Somali Poetry,
B.W Andrzejewski & I.M. Lewis,
OUP (1964)
