The Soultown! Volume III: Issue 11 NOVEMBER 2019 | Page 9

THE GRIOT
Streaming down Rubingo Hilltop.
Your teeth are like a flock of ewes to be shorn,
After washing in and crossing Karuruma River.
All of them big with twins
None of them thin and barren.
When you smile, it is like the sun has risen above
Gasabo.
Your smile makes me lose my mind and my
breath.
Ton sourire me fait perdre la tête et mal aux
poumons.
Amenyo yawe arera nk’umukumbi w’intama
zogoshwe
Iyo zikutse Karuruma zimaze kwiyuhagira.
Buri ryinyo rijyana n’iryaryo nk’impanga,
Kandi nta gihanga kiyabamo.
Iyo usetse bimera nkaho akazuba karasiye i
Gasabo.
Intseko yawe intesha umutwe nkabura amahume-
ko.
Your Bantu lips are sweeter than honey and
mango
Lèvres na yo eza plus sucrées que na ba miel na
mango.
Kissing you is being in the Garden of Eden
Before Adam and Eve ate the apple.
Que tu me baise des baisers de ta bouche.
Kiss me with your honey-dripping lips.
Your cheeks are beautifully shaped like a
Seed of a passion fruit cut in half.
Iminwa yawe iruzuye kandi iryoshye kurusha ubuki
na mangue.
Kugusoma bimeze nko kuba mu busitani bwa
Eden
Mbere y’uko Adamu na Eva barya ipera.
Co nshoma unshyireho iyo minwa yawe yuje
ubuki.
Imisaya yawe iteye neza bihebuje,
Ni nk’akabuto k’itunda basatuyemo kabiri
Ijosi ryawe ni nk’umunara wa Gihanga
Wubakiwe kubika intwaro
Na ryo ritendetseho ingabo igihumbi,
Nk’ingabo intwari zikinga ku rugamba.
Your neck resembles Gihanga’s ivory tower
Built to be a weapon fortress
A thousand caresses , hung upon it,
All the kisses of valiant Rwandan warriors.
Amabere yawe yombi ni imitemeli
Nk’inyagazi ebyiri
Zavutse ku isha ari impanga
Zikarisha mu ndabo z’amalisi ku nkombe z’Akag-
era.
Atuma inkoresho yanjye ihagarara.
Your breasts are like twin fawns—
My Heaven Ijuru Ryanje—
Gazelle calves in Akagera National Park
Grazing the grass along the Akagera River.
They make my tool stiff and stand like mad.
Your rounded thighs are like jewels,
The handiwork of an artist.
When you walk, it is like looking at a
Zebra walking away.
Your body is the Temple of Demeter
Encircled with ears of wheat and lilies.
Your navel is a round bowl that
Should never lack for mixed wine.
Amatako yawe ni nk’umutako
Wahanzwe n’umuhanga.
Kuyareba ugenda ni nka zebre ikimbagira.
Inda yawe ni Ingoro ya Demeteri
Ikikijwe n’amalisi.
Umukondo wawe w’amaribori ni nk’agakebano
Katabura divayi ihumura.
Hagati y’amatako yawe hameze nk’umugezi
Unyura hagati ya Paradizo.
Nka Ryangombe ndashaka gukubita
Abahare kuri bagongo ngutinike,
Nyatandukanye nka Musa atandukanya amazi ya
Red Sea,
Nkunezeze kugeza aho ubyaye i Kivu
Kiruta icya Nyirantsibura.
Between your thighs is the river between
Streaming down through Paradise.
Like Ryangombe I want to climb your
Mountaintop, part your valley apart
Like Moses the water of the Red Sea,
Stroke the lily of your valley until there
Emerges a Lake Kivu bigger than Nyirantsibu-
ra’s—
When pursued by men hunters,
Nyirantsibura peed to
Prevent them from capturing her.
Lake Kivu was born between Congo and Rwan-
da—
Do not be afraid my love, my Honey Ubuki.
Come closer so that I tell you how much I love you.
You have ravished my heart with them brown
eyes.
How beautiful is your love, my Honey Ubuki.
Your love is more enticing than a sip of Hennessy.
The fragrance of your garments trounces Dior-
J’Adore
Your lips drip honey, my lifetime friend,
Under your tongue there hide milk and honey.
Honey Ubuki bwanjye,
Witinya mukunzi wanjye,
Nyegera nkubwire uko ngukunda.
Wantwaye umutima n’ayo maso ya muhekura.
Mbega ukuntu urukundo rwawe ari rwiza.
Mbega ukuntu urukundo rwawe rundutira Hen-
nessy,
N’impumuro y’imibavu yawe iruta iya Dior-
J’Adore.
Iminwa yawe, mugenzi wanjye, itemba ubuki,
Ururimi rwawe rutwikiriye amata n’ubuki.
Ubuki bwanjye, nje kureba ubusitani bwanjye.
Nasoromye imibavu yanjye n’ububani bwanjye,
Nariye ikinyagu cyanjye n’ubuki bwanjye.
Nariye urusenda rwahinzwe i Kirwa.
Ndeka ninjire mu busitani bwanjye
Nirire imbuto zabwo ziryoha ukwazo.
My Honey Ubuki, I am here to see my garden.
I have harvested my myrrh and my spices,
I have eaten my honey and my sweetmeats.
I have eaten hot pepper from Kirwa Hilltop.
Let me enter my garden, let me climb the
Palm tree and hold its branches
So that I eat its sweetest fruits.
Iminwa yawe iruzuye kandi iryoshye kurusha ubuki
na mangue.
Kugusoma bimeze nko kuba mu busitani bwa
Eden
Mbere y’uko Adamu na Eva barya ipera.
Your Bantu lips are sweeter than honey and
mango
Lèvres na yo eza plus sucrées que na ba miel na
mango.
Kissing you is being in the Garden of Eden
Before Adam and Eve ate the apple.
Let me enter my garden—
The vines are in bloom,
The buds have opened,
The pomegranates have blossomed—
Let me give you my love there. Let
Love’s Desires
Breed
Love’s Union.
Note to the Reader: In this poem Solomon Miho-
ro provides an exegesis of The Song of Songs
that “humanizes” this part of the Bible, thus
making the latter bear on his personal beliefs. Is
he one of Emily Dickinson’s “‘lost’” Boys who
do not believe?
I am Dr. Pierre Mvuyekure, Griot for The
Soultown International Magazine. I’d like
to thank the African storytellers for having
SOUL! ,
Nov. 2019 • The Soultown International Magazine • Celebrating 2 years • Connecting Our Cultures to Our Cyber & Conscious Communities • thesoultown.com
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