This is the second part of S.E.K. Mqhayi’s poem “The Grave of the King”, which was originally published in the Xhosa newspaper, Izwi Labantu on December 8th 1908.
We have a river,
A river of great strength…
The Grave of the King — Part One
The Bird of the Forest Grows Restless
The following poem by the Xhosa imbongi, David Livingston Phakamile Yali-Manisi (1926–1999), was performed at a conference hosted by the University of Natal Oral Documentation and Research Centre (South Africa) in 1985.
The forest bird grows restless
one who always goes when sent…
What Do You Want Me To Say?
Improvised by the imbongi Nelson Title Mabunu at Umtata, Transkei, December 17 1970, in the course of a long poem in praise of Chief George Matanzima, co-leader of the illegal Transkei Bantustan. Mabuno was Matanzima’s official imbongi. He was a bitter enemy of the Xhosa poet Melikhaya Mbutuma, who was imbongi to the Thembu paramount chief Sabata Dalindyebo.
What do you want me to say, child of Opland?
What do you want me to say, fair-skinned one?..
Anti-Apartheid Protest Poems (part five)
The penultimate in a series of six poems from the Xhosa poet, Melikhaya Mbutuma. This was recited in February 1963, two months after the fourth poem (see also parts one, two and three for the background).
How exasperating to lack fighters when there are men.
How frustrating to look in vain for volunteers…
Anti-Apartheid Protest Poems (part four)
The fourth in a series of six poems from the Xhosa poet Melikhaya Mbutuma, this was recorded five months after the third poem (see also parts one and two for the background and parts five and six for the rest).
The rulers amaze me in their understanding of man,
The genii have confounded me in their conception of the sanctity of man.
