A Kamba girls’ song from Kenya, danced at weddings when the bride is being escorted to her new home. The singer, little Kitanga, tells the bride Mulau and all her friends that it is time to stop grieving over Mulau’s departure.
Good-day Mulau, Nzungi’s daughter
Change heart,
we have wept enough over losing you, ee you!
Even if you had been born in my house
I would have let you go now you are carrying a child.
Change heart,
we have wept enough over losing you, ee you!
It is I, Kitanga, Mumo’s daughter, don’t despise me
for being so small,
I will soon be as big as Ngulumbu.
Change heart,
we have wept enough over losing you, ee you!
Good-day Kitemu, Mbunza’s daughter,
You who should be called a stone.
Change heart,
we have wept enough over losing you, ee you!
Good-day Kakwasi, Mumo’s daughter.
Change heart,
we have wept enough over losing you, ee you!
Start the dance.
Change heart,
we have wept enough over losing you, ee you!
Good-day Mutile, Ndunga’s daughter, just answer me,
Don’t despise me for being so small,
It is I, I will soon be as big as Ngulumbu.
Change heart,
we have wept enough over losing you, ee you!
from Oral Poetry from Africa 1984
compiled by Jack Mapanje and Landeg White,
Longman
