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Inspired by poetry: "Ploughing mountainsides" » English to Swahili » Entry by Mac-gustave Kinyengele


Source text in English

Translation by Mac-gustave Kinyengele (#29269)

The Beginning

All in a moment, years ago,
The boy I was became a man:
Suddenly my life began!
I saw the world before me— So
That ploughman by his horses stands
Sweating on the first hill's brow,
Having left the riverlands
Furrowed in the vale below,
And sees a mountainside to plough,
Barren rock to blunt his share,
Thunder hanging in the air,
And the black peak above him, bare,
Waiting now.
—Let him plough it if he dare!
Mwanzo

Vyote kwa mara moja, myaka mbeleni,
Kijana niliye kuwa ali geuka mwanamme mzima:
Kwa gafla maisha yangu yali anza!
Nika i ona dunia mbele yangu— Hata
Mlimaji yule asimamae na farasi zake kando
Akikata jasho kwa kirauni cha mlima wa kwanza,
Akiwa ame acha nchi za mito
Zinazo zingatiwa kwenye bonde chini hapa
Na ana ona upande wa mlima kwa ku lima,
Mawe uchi kwa ku gutua gao lake,
Radi juu angani ikisimama tete,
Na chongo nyeusi, tupu, juu yake
Iki njojeleya pale.
—Kama aki thubutu mwacheni ailime!


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