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Inspired by poetry: "Ploughing mountainsides" » English to Swahili » Entry by Nuhu Bakari


Source text in English

Translation by Nuhu Bakari (#29995)

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 wake

Miaka mingi iliyopita, mambo mengi yaliyotokea kwa wakati mmoja,
Ujana ukapita na hatimaye nikawa mtu mzima:
Kwa ghafta tu, maisha yangu yakaanza!
Niliuona ulimwengu mbele yangu— Kwa hivyo,
Mkulima yule akawa amesimama na farasi wake
Huku akitokwa na jasho jembamba kwenye upaji wake wa uso,
Baada ya kuondoka kwenye maeneo ya vitivo vya mto
Nikalima mitaro kwenye mharara ulio upande wa chini,
Na kuona upande mmoja wa mlima kwa ajili ya kilimo,
Jangwa lenye mwamba butu na lisiloweza kupandwa kitu,
Ngurumo na radi zikitamalaki angani,
Na wingu jeusi kwenye kilele, likaangama,
Sasa nasubiria tu.
—Muwache alime sehemu hiyo iwapo atathubutu!


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