Regai ndiseke
Hehede
Kikikikikikiki
Ndisiyei zvangu
Mati ndini ndadini
Iyo nyika ichitapira kudai
Ndisiyei ndinakidzwe zvangu
Nditambarare serunyemba
Ndifaranuke semhuru yaona mai
Ndirudunuke seshinda yemadhoiri
Ndirimbinyuke kuita mutyaramutyara
Handingatsamwiri marema akakonewa kuronga
Kana kumirira mapenzi akakundikana kuzvimisa
Handingaiti tariro namafuza akashaiwa mano nazvo
Kana kutenda maruva chakata tisati tadzidya
Ndinomira ndega padombo ndichiramba zvose
Muurubvurubvu ndomisa rangu bango
Muubvanzubvanzu ndomisa rangu zano
Kusiya nzira dzakamedza zviuru muumbwende
Ndichibira mhiri kwedziva ngwena dzirere
Padzinosvinura musasa ndatema kare
Allow me to laugh
Hehede
Kikikikikikiki
Leave me alone
Am I the only one
In this exciting country
Let me be joyful
Spreading my wings like a cowpeas plant
Jumping with joy like a calf on sight of mother cow
Rolling like an unstringing woollen thread
Spare me a joy run
I can’t be angry against half-witted persons’ mismanagement
Nor can I wait for lunatics’ failure to stop the rot.
I can’t lay my hope on fools’ lack of wisdom
Nor celebrate flowers before I taste the delicacy of the fruit
I stand firm on solid ground denouncing rubbish
In these rubbles I erect my pillar
In this dissected community I set my ideas
Setting aside the failures’ routes which swallowed thousands
Crossing rivers before crocodiles awake
By the time they smell my trail a home I have erected
Mira uverengwe
Zvawakasvika paya ndokutambira chigaro
kana paya panonzi hezvi zvinwiwa
iwe kwakutambira ndokumedza
paya pakanzi vamwe vose gezai maoko iwe wakati newewo handisari
kana pavakarova manja iwe wakati haungasariri shure segotsi
ko, nhasi zvowoti zvakarongwapo zvaisava newe mukati woreveizve?
unorevesa kuti waiva gudzadungwe iwe here nhaiwe?
ko, zviya paya zvawakati?
payazve ukazoti
zvainzi nauyu nhingi uyu iwe daidai uchiti,
ko, zvino unorevei kana uchiti zvaisava newe mukati?
asi ndiye waiva sori kanhu?
kana kuti ndiwe wakakwenyera?
kana uriwe muridzi wayo pito taura tinzwe
hatidi mhumi mumakushe emakwai
zvozvongoti iwe uchiramba vose vaiva vakaungana paya vodomwa namazita?
Kungezve wave nemaronge epundutso kutsigira neutosvo hwakareba?
Zvichinge washinga kusiya marengenya
izvo iwe uchiri kudairira kuzuro kuya
kuyazve kwataitiza tichiti kwete
zvowodai kusimba nerekuti handiwe wataive naye paya?
Asiwo zviremwaremwa zvakadiwa naniko
kunge mbeva, kunge shiri
kana hunga yakafarirwa naani?
hunge hove, hunge nyoka
buda pachena tizive zvakatihwandira
kwete kuzoita hwekufungira tohwa woti ndakangodaidzwawo!
Stand up and be known
You came and received a seat
Even when refreshments were shared you take your share
You refused to remain behind like a back of the head during hand washing
You then joined everyone for thanksgiving
Why are you denying your participation today, why?
Are you sure you were just following unintentionally?
Why then did you do that, that time
And then that again, that other time
When someone said, you answered saying
So, what do you mean it had nothing to do with you?
Were you the one spying?
Or you are the one who whistle blew?
If you are the whistle owner tell us!
We don’t befriend wolves in sheep’s skin
Why is your denial coinciding with picking of all present that day?
Were you pretending, giving wise counsel?
Appearing as if you have braved an exit
Yet you still wanted to be in the past
Where all of us were running away from
That today you deny we were together that day?
but where have you ever heard bats accepted
like a mouse like a bird
nor seen genus of long being favoured
like a fish like a snake
come out clean, don’t hide
we don’t want to suspect you from your ‘I was just called’ denial.
Craning your neck without contributing to issues discussed
Present your rightful position
If you clench your fists
Or erect a slap
Not to claim you were called and did nothing
You are a two-faced snake!
Surprisingly you dare quarrelling
But you provide inside information at that meeting
You flexed your mouth’s muscles in the ears’ reach of the nation
Spreading bile coated words with an open throat
And your heart was filled with satisfaction from the people’s cheer
What has happened to you that you stand up and deny you were not there?
And boastfully you came down from the podium
Accompanied with ululations
And whistling
With people clapping like sons’-in-laws to their mothers-in-law
Clapping for the words of your mouth
What do you mean today that you deny authorship?
Whose words were they that came off your mouth?
Who fed you those words you spoke to the people?
Tell us the owner we want to know.
The bile coated words you throw like a club aimed at fig fruits
Now that you denying, throwing hands and shaking your head like cattle hit by stone
Claiming you are being framed, they are not your words
Were you not aware that a word follows the person who said it?
Tell me, if they were rewarded with a trophy were you going to deny them?
Or if they were said to be good words, were you going to say they are not yours?
Now that you are taking the whole community for fools
As if they can’t relate words to the person who said them!
but where have you ever heard bats accepted
like a mouse like a bird
nor seen genus of long being favoured
like a fish like a snake
come out, don’t hide
we don’t want to suspect you from your ‘I was just called’ denial.
Tinashe Muchuri is a writer with passion in creative industries. He writes about the arts and gives an ear to indigenous knowledge systems and enjoys researching around the Shona people’s culture. He is the writer of an anti-novel titled Chibarabada, a children's story book, Auntie Mazvita, and Shona creative resource book, ZvipfuyonevanaVazvo. He is finalizing his second novel ZvavanhuHerevo! and also aggregating Shona proverbs in their variations, variants and digging for where they originated (reasons why they were created).