Translations by Richard Prins

Quiet

Quiet is the loudest thing, that’s what the old folks say.

Quiet gets you fastening scabbards around your waist.

Quiet shouldn’t be denied. And me, I won’t deny it.

Quiet augurs much ahead. Protect yourself from quiet.

Quiet is a firebrand stoked, a sudden apparition.

Quiet billows so much smoke, your eyes refuse to open.

Quiet is a trap, a threat, forever and infinite.

Quiet augurs much ahead. Protect yourself from quiet.

Quiet, be on the lookout, look out and your eyes will see!

Quiet drops a bamboo sprout. Go forth, but less cockily.

Quiet gathers up its breath, then dances wild and violent.

Quiet augurs much ahead. Protect yourself from quiet.

Kimya

Original text of “Kimya” by Muyaka bin Haji al-Ghassaniy (1776 – 1840)

Kimya kina mshindo mkuu, ndivyo wambavyo wavyele;

Kimya chataka k’umbuu viunoni mtatile,

Kimya msikidharau, nami sikidharawile.

Kimya kina mambo mbele, tahadharini na kimya!

Kimya ni kinga kizushi kuzukia wale-wale,

Kimya kitazua moshi mato musiyafumbile.

Kimya kina mshawishi kwa daima na milelele;

Kimya kina mambo mbele, tahadharini na kimya!

Kimya vuani maozi, vuani mato muole!

Kimya kitaangusha mwanzi mwendako msijikule;

Kimya chatunda p’umuzi kiumbizi kiumbile.

Kimya kina mambo mbele, tahadharini na kimya.

The Bee is a Scholar

Bees are lowly insects, and yet they’re also teachers

In the hive they earn respect, impressing their observers

They don’t have diplomas yet, but honey just gets sweeter

Among discerning scholars, the bee is quite distinguished

The bee is most distinguished among discerning scholars

Their study of the forest keeps people out of squalor

There is no creature like it, whose work displays such rigor

Among discerning scholars, the bee is quite distinguished

Bees land upon the tassels of maize and lemon anthers

Filling up honeycomb wells so we collect their sugar

Some of them die as they toil. I cannot guess their number

Among discerning scholars, the bee is quite distinguished

The queen is their companion, the only one they honor

Dutiful and compliant, the drones are in there with her

The workers have their placements, appointed times for labor

Among discerning scholars, the bee is quite distinguished

Swiping pollen off a bough, not just voluptuous flowers

And roving in swampy slough, terrains noxious and dour

There they go buzzing by now, no rest till work is over

Among discerning scholars, the bee is quite distinguished

They take apart cadavers, and other forbidden horrors

They handle fecal matter, coughed-up phlegm and slobber

They even restore vigor to juveniles and elders

Among discerning scholars, the bee is quite distinguished

Honey is pure quintessence. So don’t treat bees inferior

Who can claim such competence among us human creatures?

They make filth so saccharine. We lap it up and savor

Among discerning scholars, the bee is quite distinguished

Their wax too fetches profit, exceptional for barter

Whenever sold at market, you harvest coins of silver

Lifting the impoverished, giving them back their honor

Among discerning scholars, the bee is quite distinguished

Both children and their elders love it the whole world over

Men become ambassadors, their hearts bursting with ardor

Its sweetness is so adored, who doesn’t know its pleasure?

Among discerning scholars, the bee is quite distinguished

But what does the bee concoct? My throat is getting weaker

Even sheikhs know what it costs, handing over their dinars

During the Ramadan fast, it causes us to slaver

Among discerning scholars, the bee is quite distinguished

Yours truly is not in the tree, just playing versifier

The harvests of the bee, a secret of soothsayers

But soothsaying bothers me; this pilot’s not a nutter

Among discerning scholars, the bee is quite distinguished

Thankfully this is the end. May the lovely bee endure

Let’s not blow smoke at them, punishing gracious favors

So don’t hurt the bees, my friend, just help keep them in order

Among discerning scholars, the bee is quite distinguished

Nyuki ni Mtaalamu

Original text of “The Bee is a Scholar” by Mathias E. Mnyampala (1917 – 1969)

Nyuki ni mdudu duni, bali yeye ni mwalimu,

Sifa zake mzingani, anashangaza kaumu,
Japo hafunzwi chuoni, asali yake ni tamu,
Katika wataalamu, nyuki ametia shani.

Nyuki ametia shani, katika wataalamu,
Taaluma ya porini, wanadamu kuwakimu,
Hiyyo hana kifanani, kazi yake ni muhimu,
Katika wataalamu, nyuki ametia shani.

Nyuki huja tua nchani, ya mahindi na midimu,
Na hujaa visimani, maji wapate gharimu,
Wengine hufa kazini, sizitaji tarakimu,
Katika wataalamu, nyuki ametia shani.

Malkia ni mwandani, ndiye wanomheshimu,
Na madume humo ndani, shughuli za walazimu.
Na vibarua kundini, waenda kila taimu,
Katika wataalamu, nyuki ametia shani.

Huchuma vumbi tawini, si maua yenye hamu,
Huingia matopeni, na pachafu penye sumu,
Kisha huruka angani, haja ikisha kutima,
Katika wataalamu, nyuki ametia shani.

Huchukua mzogani, na vitu vile haramu,
Na huchukua mavini, na kohozi lenye pumu.
Hutaregeza vikawini, kwa wazee na ghulamu.
Katika wataalamu, nyuki ametia shani.

Asali ina kiini, nyuki tusimdhulumu,
Awezaye hivyo nani, kati yetu wanadamu?
Kichafu kuwa ladhani, alaye atabasamu?
Katika wataalamu, nyuki amelia shani.

Ntaye inayo thamani, kubwa katika lilamu.
Iuzwapo mnadani, utavuna ndarahimu,
Hutoa umasikini, mtu kuwa mahashumu.
Katika wataalamu, nyuki ametia shani.

Inapendwa duniani, kwa watu kila hirimu,
Wanaipenda moyoni, waume wake kaumu,
Hapana asotamani, utamu wake adhimu,
Katika wataalamu, oyuki ametia shani.

Nyuki anatia nini? Hasa miou natehemu.
Masheikh wanathamini, wanunua tasilimu,
Mfungo wa Ramadhani, hondoa balaghamu,
Katika wataalamu, nyuki ametia shani.

Penda-Chako si mtini, wa kusanii nudhumu,
Nyuki anacho kivuni, kiini cha unajimu,
Unajimu wa nibani, rubani aso wazimu,
Katika wataalamu, nyuki ametia shani.

Kaditama shukurani, nyuki mwema na adumu
Tusimchome motoni, hisani kuihujumu,
Tusimdhuru jamani, tumwekee na hukumu,
Katika wataalamu, nyuki ametia shani.

Richard Prins is a lifelong New Yorker. Publications include Gulf Coast, jubilat, Los Angeles Review, Ploughshares, and “Notable” mentions in Best American Essays and Best American Travel Writing. Arrests include criminal trespass (Trump Tower), disorderly conduct (Trump International Hotel), resisting arrest (Republican National Convention), and incommoding the halls of Congress (United States Senate).

“Quiet” was written by Muyaka bin Haji Al-Ghassaniy (1776 – 1840), the earliest secular Swahili poet whose name has been recorded for posterity. William Ernest Taylor and Mwalimu Sikujua collected and transcribed Muyaka’s verses in the late 1880s while they were still circulating in the memories of elderly Mombasan poets. Muyaka was a proud citizen of the island state of Mombasa, and a master of the mashairi quartet form that serves as one of the major prosodic strains in Swahili poetry. Muyaka has been credited with bringing Swahili verse “out of the mosque and into the marketplace”, and his topics could range from the political to the domestic to the quotidian. Many of his refrains have become proverbs still in use in vernacular Swahili, even though his old Kimvita dialect is challenging for modern Swahili speakers to understand. “Quiet” refers to a dormant period in Mombasa’s frequent wars with the Omani Empire and its expansionist, slave-trading sultan Seyyid Said. Muyaka commented often on these skirmishes, sometimes in a saber-rattling manner, and sometimes, as in this poem, with a more foreboding and philosophical mood.

“The Bee is a Scholar” was written by Mathias E. Mnyampala (1917 – 1969). Mnyampala was born in the Dodoma region of central Tanzania, making him the first major Swahili poet who didn’t hail from the coast. In addition to poetry, he wrote a history of the Gogo people who inhabit that region of Tanzania. He worked as a tax clerk during colonial rule, and after Tanzania gained its independence, he served as a Magistrate and as chair of a national Swahili poets association that supported Swahili’s adoption as the new national language. This put him in a prominent public role during the Ujamaa era, when President Julius Nyerere sought to remake the country as an agrarian socialist state steeped in African values. As such, “The Bee is a Scholar” may well have been a propagandistic effort to encourage Tanzanians to harvest honey; earlier Swahili poems were written for similar reasons, extolling such crops as the coconut. 

Katika wataalamu, nyuki ametia shani.