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12
Contents
editorial
LUCAS LEDWABA
Festival in forgotten community seeks to amplify rural voices through art
RATO MID FREQUENCY
Social Death Beyond Blackness
HUGO KA CANHAM
Exchanging black excellence for failure
LOUIS CHUDE-SOKEI WITH IR INDIGENOUS RESISTANCE
Sharp as a Blade: Decolonizing Decolonization
Theme Timbila Library
MALAIKA WA AZANIA
The Timbila Library - 120 books to read by age 28
MING DI
“Through Multiculturalism We Become Better Humans”: A Conversation with Vonani Bila
MZWANDILE MATIWANA
The surviving poet
NOSIPHO KOTA
Seven Poems
MPHUTLANE WA BOFELO
Language is Land
MXOLISI NYEZWA
Seven Notes To A Black friend, The Dance of the Ancestors and Two Other Songs That Happened
VONANI BILA
Ancestral Wealth
PHILLIPPA YAA DE VILLIERS
Voices of the Land: Poets of Connection
MASERAME JUNE MADINGWANE
Three Poems
SANDILE NGIDI
Three Poems
VONANI BILA
Probing ‘Place’ as a Catalyst for Poetry
DAVID WA MAAHLAMELA
Four Poems
MAKHOSAZANA XABA
Poems from These Hands
TINYIKO MALULEKE
An Ode to Xilamulelamhangu: English-Xitsonga Dictionary
KGAFELA OA MAGOGODI
Five Outspoken Poems
MZI MAHOLA
Three Poems
VUYISILE MSILA
People’s English in the Poetry of Mzi Mahola and Vonani Bila
VONANI BILA
The Pig and four other poems
MPUMI CILIBE
American Toilet Graffiti: JFK Airport 1995
KELWYN SOLE
Craft Wars and ’74 – did it happen? (unpublished paper)
MAROPODI HLABIRWA MAPALAKANYE
Troublemaker’s Prison Letter
AYANDA BILLIE
Four Poems
VONANI BILA
Moses, we shall sing your Redemption Song
MM MARHANELE
Three Poems
VUYISILE MSILA
Four Poems
RAPHAEL D’ABDON
Resistance Poetry in Post-apartheid South Africa: An Analysis of the Poetic Works and Cultural Activism of Vonani Bila
THEMBA KA MATHE
Three Poems
ROBERT BEROLD
Five Poems
VONANI BILA
The Magician
galleri
KHEHLA CHEPAPE MAKGATO
TŠHIPA E TAGA MOHLABENG WA GAYO
THAIO ABRAHAM LEKHANYA
Mary Sibande: Reimagining the Figure of the Domestic Worker
TSHEPO SIZWE PHOKOJOE
The Gods Must Be Crazy
DATHINI MZAYIYA
Early Works
KEMANG WA LEHULERE & LEFIFI TLADI
In Correspondence
TENDAI RINOS MWANAKA
Mwanaka Media: all sorts of haunts, hallucinations and motivations
ROFHIWA MUDAU
Colour Bars
OBINNA OBIOMA
Anyi N’Aga (We Are Going )
THULILE GAMEDZE
No end, no fairytale: On the farce of a revolutionary ‘hey day’ in contemporary South African art
SAM MATHE
On Comic Books
VONANI BILA
Caversham Centre: A Catalyst for Creative Writing and Engagement with Writers and Artists
KEITH ADAMS
Vakalisa Arts Associates, 1982–1992: Reflections
borborygmus
LYNTHIA JULIUS
Om ’n wildeperd te tem
EUGENE SKEEF
THEN AND NOW
BONGANI MADONDO
Out of Africa: Hip Hop’s half-a-century impact on modernity - a memoir of sound and youth, from the culture’s African sources, Caribbean “techno-bush” to its disco-infernal flourish.
KOPANO RATELE
You May Have Heard of the Black Spirit: Or Why Voice Matters
KWANELE SOSIBO
Innervisions: The Politricks of Dub
NDUDUZO MAKHATHINI
uNomkhubulwane and songs
RICHARD PITHOUSE
The radical preservation of Matsuli Music
CARSTEN RASCH
Searching for the Branyo
BONGANI TAU
Ukuqophisa umlandu: Using fashion to re-locate Black Psyche in a Township
VONANI BILA
Dahl Street, Pietersburg
FORTUNATE JWARA
Thinking Eroticism and the Practice of Writing: An Interview with Stacy Hardy
NOMPUMELELO MOTLAFI
The Fucking
frictions
IGNATIA MADALANE
Not on the List
SITHEMBELE ISAAC XHEGWANA
IMAGINED: (excerpt)
SHANICE NDLOVU
When I Think Of My Death
MPHUTLANE WA BOFELO
Biko, Jazz and Liberation Psychology
FORTUNATE JWARA
Three Delusions
ALEXANDRA KALLOS
A Kite That Bears My Name
NIEVILLE DUBE
Three Joburg Stories
M. AYODELE HEATH
Three Poems
ZAMOKUHLE MADINANA
Three Poems
VERNIE FEBRUARY
Of snakes and mice — iinyoka neempuku
KNEO MOKGOPA
Woundedness
VONANI BILA
The day I killed the mamba
JESÚS SEPÚLVEDA
Love Song for Renée Nicole Good
ALLAN KOLSKI HORWITZ
Three New Poems
claque
MAKHOSAZANA XABA
“Unmapped roads in us”: A Review of Siphokazi Jonas's Weeping Becomes a River
LINDA NDLOVU
Uhuru Portia Phalafala’s Mine Mine Mine
VONANI BILA
Kwanobuhle Overcast: Ayanda Billie's poetry of social obliteration and intimacy
WAMUWI MBAO
We Who Are Not Dead Yet: A Necessary Shudder
ENOCK SHISHENGE
Sam Mathe’s When You Are Gone
SIHLE NTULI
Channels of Discovery
MAKGATLA THEPA-LEPHALE
Lefatshe ke la Badimo by Sabata-mpho Mokae
PHILANI A. NYONI
The Mad
SEAN JACOBS
Mr. Entertainment
NELSON RATAU
On Culture and Liberation Struggle in South Africa — From Colonialism to Post-Apartheid, Lebogang Lance Nawa [Editor]
DIMAKATSO SEDITE
Morafe
MENZI MASEKO
Acknowledging Spiritual Power Beyond Belief - A Review of Restoring Africa’s Spiritual Identity by African Hidden Voices (AHV)
DOMINIC DAULA
Kassandra by Duo Nystrøm / Venter: Artistry inspired by Janus
RIAAN OPPELT
Get Jits or Die Tryin’
MZOXOLO VIMBA
The weight of the sack: Hessian, history and new meaning in Tshepo Sizwe Phokojoe’s “The Gods Must be Crazy” exhibition.
RICK DE VILLIERS
Review: Ons wag vir Godot – translated by Naòmi Morgan
GOODENOUGH MASHEGO
We Who Are Not Dead Yet by Aryan Kaganof
MAKGATLA THEPA-LEPHALE
SACRED HILLS, A Novel by Lucas Ledwaba
ekaya
MALIKA NDLOVU
Beloved sister Diana
VONANI BILA
The Timbila Poetry Project
MARK WALLER
It’s time to make arts and culture serve the people
LUCAS LEDWABA
'I have nothing left' – flood victims count the costs
KOPANO RATELE & THE NHU SPACE POSSE
On The ‘NHU’ Space
LWAZI LUSHABA
A Video Call with Kopano Ratele on Politics and the Black Psyche, 22 July 2024
CHARLA SMITH & KOPANO RATELE
“Men cannot love if they are not taught the art of loving”: Blueprints for caring boys and men
LAING DE VILLIERS
A visit to the Mighty Men’s Conference and Uncle Angus: A perspective on masculinity
THOMAS HYLLAND ERIKSEN & RIAAN OPPELT
Post-apartheid diversification through Afrikaaps: language, power and superdiversity in the Western Cape
MARTIN JANSEN
Where is the Better Lyf You Promised Us?
THADDEUS METZ
Academic Publishing is a Criminal Operation
off the record
MIRIAM MAKEBA
Sonke Mdluli
ALON SKUY
Marikana 2012/2022
ZAKES MDA
Biko's Children (12 September 2001)
VONANI BILA
Ku Hluvukile eka ‘Zete’: Recovering history and heritage through the influence of Xitsonga disco maestro, Obed Ngobeni
IAN OSRIN
Recording Obed Ngobeni with Peter Moticoe
MATSULI MUSIC
The Back Covers
THEODORE LOUW
Reminiscing
GAVIN STEINGO
Historicizing Kwaito
LEHLOHONOLO PHAFOLI
The Evolution of Sotho Accordion Music in Lesotho: 1980-2005
DOUGIE OAKES
On Arthur Nortje, The Poet Who Wouldn’t Look Away
PULE LECHESA
Sophonia Machabe Mofokeng: Distinguished Essayist and Dramatist in the pantheon of Sesotho Literature
NOKUTHULA MAZIBUKO
Spring Offensive
feedback
OSCAR HEMER
16 October 2025
PALESA MOKWENA
9 October 2024
MATTHEW PATEMAN
11 August 2024
RAFIEKA WILLIAMS
12 August 2023
ARYAN KAGANOF
26 October 2021 – A letter to Masixole Mlandu
FACEBOOK FEEDBACK
Facebook
herri_gram FEEDBACK
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PhD
ALICE PATRICIA MEYER
Timbila Poetry: Vonani Bila’s Poetic Project
the selektah
VONANI BILA
Vonani's Choice
ARYAN KAGANOF
herri films
hotlynx
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hotlynx are sizzling
shopping
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CONTRIBUTORS
From Alice to Zama
the back page
WALTER MIGNOLO
Presentación El cine en el quehacer (descolonial) del *hombre*
MENZI APEDEMAK MASEKO
The Meaning of ‘Bantu’
ACHILLE MBEMBE
Decolonizing Knowledge and the Question of the Archive
ROLANDO VÁZQUEZ
Translation as Erasure: Thoughts on Modernity’s Epistemic Violence
SABELO J NDLOVU-GATSHENI
The Dynamics of Epistemological Decolonisation in the 21st Century: Towards Epistemic Freedom
MARGARET E. WALKER
Towards a Decolonized Music History Curriculum
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  • Theme Timbila Library

MM MARHANELE

Three Poems

Xirhun'wa xa Mati 

Xipepetwana a xi vile ro vila; 
Xi ba, xi cinacina no hlanganisa timheho, 
Xi ba xindziwandziwani xa mati ngi xo hlola,
Mbala wa misava wu cinca magenge, 
Swivumbiwa swi dlitadlita ngi ta byongo ti wachukile, 
Marhavi ni matluka swi swuluta ngi swo tisunga,
Vumbhoni bya ku nghena ka rifu hi bazi ra mpundzu 
Byi tsema ni minhlana ya vahlahluvi va maxelo,
Tilo ni rihati swi kavanga no tiyisa nyimpi ya xijumana.

Xi lo na gongodza xipepetwana xa kona, 
Leswo chava hi moya swivumbiwa swi khotsa mincila, 
Mirhi yi wa mikapa 'ngi yo va swiendla-hi-vomu,
Timintsu ti cinama ti xambila ku vona tiko rintshwa, 
Matluka ma hundzuka swilavi exivindzini xa xibakabaka,
Xihangu, mpfula ni xidzedze swi mbhombhela hinkwako,
No tlatlalata hinkwaswo swa mavevu hi swivuri swo gwanya,
Swi 1 ak u xululu-mhe! –emuya-swi-nga-vuyi.
 
Laha swi nga hundzaka vamhondlwana lavo fela hi vanyini 
Swihototo swa mati swi va swihototo. 
Maxuvuru eswidziveni ni le mabobomeni ma khoma xivixivi; 
Ma rhangise vuhawu byo hlota marhavi ya mati, 
Kombe matimagodya ma hlambanya hi nhonga ni jazi; 
Leswaku loko xi ri xo ya entsindza, 
Endzhaku a xi tlheleli - swa yila. 
Maxuvuru ya vanhu ncucununuu! Vutomi bya wona byi ngangamela, 
Mintsumbu ya wona yi ya helela exikhulwini xa mati.

Khani-khani ximbhembhe xi ta tsema ti koma,
Kambe ko fana ni kwala.
Vhiki khe, xa ha hluthulela swihlungwa, 
Tindlu ti hlaseriwa hi n'wari wo tswala hi swimbyarumbyaru 
Leto vumbiwa hi misava ya nyaka ti nghena etimhakeni; 

Hi nkandzakanyo hohloo! 
Swiqongwana swi vuya ehenhla ka mintsumbu;
Swi yi pangula no yi nuvuka
'ngi swi lo mama lera ka Javulosi vele. 

Tiko hinkwaro ri xangula, 
Kambe Makundzumula a nga yimi ku vangula. 
Laha a ba kona a ba swi suka 
Vumunhu byi mbewula byi mbewurile; 
Byi ku ncokolo, hi mahlongati yo langutela valuleki.
Nawu wa xisiyamani wu teka magoza yo vukari; 
Vanhu va phikizana ni swiharhi ni swikokovi hi ku ba xigagaga, 
Kambe sweswo a swo fana ni ku cela nsele hi matino, 
Hikuva xirhun'wa a xi mbhonye hinkwako. 
Ndhambi leyi a yi hlasele Afrika-ikelele, 
Kambe leswi a swi ri eka Maputsu,
Loko ti helerile ebyongweni a wu ta ma yila mati;
Lama a ma hundzuke xirhun'wa;
Xo ta yayarhela vamakwerhu va ha tshamisekile
Phela Zambezi a nga lo kihlanya, a lo mpanguu!
Loko a ya fika eka Maputsu se o mbveveleta kunene;
A vorota ntumbuluko hinkwawo hi ku rhandza;
Ivi vutomi bya swisiwana byi rhevulukela ematini.

Afrika-Dzonga a twa hi ndhuma,
Leswaku eka Maputsu ta vinjana eminkeleni.
Hiloko a nyunganyungisa vuthu ra yena ra vululeki.
Loko dyambu ri ya ku vhaa!
Swihirihiri swa maxangu swi ku: ”Se hi fikile.”
Hi xinkadyana rikhada leri a ri memetela erhavini ra murhi
Ri ngengemiseriwa endzeni ka xihahampfhuka-phatsa ni mana wa rona,
Kasi swin'wana swihirihiri na swona a swi nghene ehansi
No tleketlela tinkuveri ta mati swi ya ku jaja, eswitsungeni
Swa swihlala

Ntirho wa vafana va Mbeki wu ve tano hi minkarhi ni masiku,
Kambe Mayembula na Makundzumula va nga yimi no yima
Ku cinisa va ka hina ncino wa cawa ya rifu;
Van'wana va dlawa hi xindzuvu xo fa ni mintlhambi ya vona,
Van'wana va xwela, va khukhuriwa no ndzoveteriwa emakorhweni;
Makorho ya nsohonsohe wo va fikisa emakumu ka mati;
Laha va nga helela kona va fe ni marito;
Kona laha va nga etlela vurhongo bya makumu;
Va nga lahliwanga hi xiwacha xa ndhavuko wa vona.
Lexicographers and poets Max Marhanele and Vonani Bila. Picture taken in 2015 on the occasion of National Heritage Day which took place in Botlokwa, Limpopo Province.
Pentagon na WTC 

Swa misava swi huma ni dyambu
Ri ta ka ri ku pe, swa ha lwela ku ba ntambhu
Hi xifuva xo ke' vutihlamuleri ni vutlhari.
Swa misava swi tele vambhala-maxuxwana
A swi hlweli ku pfuxa tinxangu;
Ivi vumunhu byi khotsa mincila exikarhi ka milenge
Loko papa ra ntima rona ri nyanya ku khoneta
Misava hinkwayo yi vhuma nghoma yin'we ya xirilo
"Swimbe hi ko' ku tshwa ka misava."

Ya xitumbelelani yi lwiwa swi Twala
Pentagon a wa 'ngi u lo hlangana na saha.
WTC na yena a hohloka
Tanihi mpambani wa xihoncana
Lowu nga phuvekiwa emakaleni ya mbhawula
Amerika a khoma hi switshetshela swa xihluku,
A vindlavindleka ku kuma vasuluvundzu;
Lava nga peta vanhu-ntsena enkwangula-ku-tshweni
Hi siku ra 11th September 2001

Mbhayimbhayi rito ri huma e-Afghanistan,
Osama Bin Laden a tidyela ebo: "Mina a ndzi yena yaloye."
Bush yena a ku tshetsherhele: "Nyakhandli hi tiva wena."
Blair na yena a tshikelela marito ya Munghezi-kulobye.
Loko Saddam yena a humesa xindzin'wana xa fenya
A tiyisa lera ku "I mhangu ku tilavela,"
Phela a nga dzahisani fole na ma-Amerika
Mbeki na yena a faka rito ro nganyela;
A putsuketa marito yo sola vandlhandlama.

Masiku bi, ya tlulela eka rin'wana vhiki.
Kambe tinkuveri ta bolo ya ritshwa tshuu, ku kumeka;
Leti nga kumeka ta ha koka moya a ti nga tati ni xandla.
Maxaka ni vanghana kho, ku tshama hi ro hisa.
Ni vurhongo byi nga ha phahi ta ha gwabana
Ta mpukumpuku wa ku nyeka ka vamafela-sopo.
Misava hinkwayo yi vila hi rixungexunge ro dumelana
Lamo hlaya matiko ma pumba Osama vuloyi,
Kambe yena a ku nikiniki: "Ku fa no bola."

Amerika a xungeta ku rhumela miseve ya ndzilo a lo tshama.
A tiyimisele ku koka "Star War" ni swin'wana swiketse
Leswaku swi ya ba swi levela Kabul.
Nghilandhi na yena a hoxa ra yena ra vusiwana;
Ro ya hlengela ntsindza wa swimhungu.
Ntariyani na yena a ku i ra mina rero,
Loko Jarimani a tshembisa ku pfuna Amerika hi switlhatlhe
Leswaku loko ti ya culungana epuweni,
Timomo ta kona ti hlangana na mimpfi ya le timuthweni.

Eku sunguleni matiko a ma khomane tanihi vuriyana.
Mo tala ma tata marito ya ntshivelelo;
Ntshivelelo wo phimpha Afghanistan hi switlhavatlhavani.
Pakistan a gandza hi ku veka mavuthu ya yena
Ephangwini ra ndzilakana wa yena na Afghanistan.
A kandzela hi ku ba xileriso xa m'jijiji
Leswaku Osama a nekenekisiwela e-Amerika.
Handle ka swona, ku ta pfurha mbvurumbvuru wa misava
Loko "Nagasaki" na "Hiroshima" va tswariwa ra vumbirhi.

Matiko hinkwawo ma ku kihla-kihlaa, hi vufafadi;
Rin'wana ni rin'wana ri humesa xifuva xa rona.
Austria na Israel va ku: "Tihlo hi tihlo!"
Denmark na Finland va ku: "Byi kwihi vumbhoni bya mpumbo?"
Afrika-Dzonga na Sweden va ku:
"Vandlhandlhama a va kumi hakelo."
Kuwait na India va ku: "Nyimpi a yi ololoxi xiphiqo."
Brazil na Nederland va ku: "Amerika a tiehleketi kahle."
Nigeria na Pakistan va ku: "Masiku ya Osama ya hlayiwile."
Kasi Holland a tlhela a ku: "America a nge fumi misava hinkwayo."

Bush a ku: "Kwihi?"
Hi fok-fok ni ndlhi, mfumo wa Taliban
A wu ngengemisi Osam Bin Laden,
Wu n'wi byisela e-Washington.
Leswo wa hanya kumbe a nga hanyi,
A swi ndzi tirheli mina."
Kasi loko a ri yena Ari Fleisher;
Yena muvulavuleri wa yindlu leyikulu e-Washington,
A hlambanya leswaku nkarhi wa mawetanisi wu hundzile.

Hiloko vafundhisi va Afghanistan va rhumela "Ulema,"
Ha yona va kombela xikhulu xa Taliban
Ku tekela ehlokweni xileriso xa mu-Amerika,
Kambe Bush a ku: "Sweswo' swintsongo;
Minhlangano hinkwayo ya vandlhandlhama
Yi fanele ku pulukanyiwa hi Taliban,"
Mati hi thelo leri a ma halakela eka Al-Qaeda;
Wu nga wona mativula ya Osama Bin Laden,
Handle ka sweswo Afghanistan hinkwayo yi ta vila.

Mullah Mohammed Omar a ku menoo!
Loko yi ri Afghanistan hi ta yi lwela
Nhlangano wa UN na wona wu nghenelela;
Kofi Annan a boxa leswaku vumunhu byi vumba vun'we
Byo Iwa ni xikonyololo xa vandlhandlhama,
Kambe va vukosi bya Kabul va ku: "Ninyana-Majawana,
A swi kona swo fa 'ngi hi tihavi ta tinyimpfu,"
Kasi loko a ri Osama Bin Laden hi byakwe,
U lo hlambanya a ku: "Rifu ra antswa ku tlula vulolo ni nchavo."

Lavo tala e-Afghanistan va hatle va kuma masema ya nhlaselo,
Ngopfungopfu vampheheleni ni lavo dya swo kontswa;
Vona va lo gotsa maguja ni madzedze ya vona,
Va pana sikisi ra ha vona;
Va hambana na ku fela zava;
Va ba m'duba va rhangise vavasati ni vana.
Hi nkarhi walowo vavasati a va khome xo tika;
Xo hlangula mihloti ni xo hlangula vana va vona,
Va ri karhi va ba tshineta - va lwela no lwisa ku fika ePakistan.

Yi lo na Sonto ya 7th October 2001.
Amerika na Nghilandi va ku: “Se hi kona.”
Xibakabaka hinkwaxo xa Afghanistan xi bitukanya,
Xi butukanyiswa hi pongo ni musi wa swihirihiri.
Xihangu xa ndzilo xi hlasela Kabul
Hi nkandzakanyo xi nghenela Jalalabad, Kandahar na Herat.
Misava hinkwayo ya ma-Muslem yi ku tsekutseku!
Yi sola mabihani-Amerika ni switlamu swa yena.
Vumunhu byi ku tlevelele, phela dyinyimpi dya vunharhu dyi le ndleleni.
Exigodlhweni xa Mungoma


Loko u lava ku vona "Supermarket" ya mifututu,
Yana exigodlhweni xa mungoma,
Hi xona makuvekuve wa malakarhi 'ngi i xisaka xa nghondzo,
Hi le xivuyeni xa mikhusu ya timintsu ni madzovo,
Hi le kaya ka mindzovekelo yo hudisa no hlambisa timbilu,
Ku nwa yona u bohiwa ku nwa ni tshaku ra xitsori,
Hi kona ku tshuriwaka mavito ya tinhlolo;
Tihakata, tinguluve, tithwalima ku hlaya i ku xurha.
Hi kona xivindzini xa marhambu ni machovo,
Marhambu ya magelevendze ya tinkawu ni timfenhe,
Madzovo ni machovo ya tinsimba ni ya swintlen'wana,
Leyi hi yona feme ya titshevele ni tinhunguvana.

Xigodlho lexi i yunivhesiti ya swigulana,
Ngopfungopfu leswi nga ni swilondza ebyongweni;
Swona swi khiniwe milenge 'ngi i timbhongolo,
Swin'wana swi tele ku khendla no kamba
Leswi swi hlayile swi tlhela swi tivana xihomu.
Swin'wana swi tele ku ta xungatiwa
Hikuva laha swi pfaka kona swi suke hi ya mavivi.
Leswo vabya swinsivana swona
Swi tshame hi swigava swa swona,
Swona swi vonaka hi tixoxomu ta marhimila,
Kasi swin'wana swi swivile swikandza
Wongi swi lo ntluntla, empfundzeni wa mondzo swi lo mbyinyaa!

Ta vuya eyunivhesiti leyi;
A ri kona ra mahala siku,
I vuwalawala byo ya ehansi ni le henhla,
Lava nga hora misisi vona,
Va yimele siku ro teka nyongwa.
Lava nga hlangana na mihlolo;
Vona va tele ku ta kombela tinhlolo;
Leti nga celela tinhloko ta varhandziwa va vona,
Kasi lava vabyelaka ku fa,
Vona va kwavame hi swivindzi
Wonge va dlawela ku phahula swimanga swa vanhu.
Loko to zela ti ntenyeka ta yiwayiwani,
Ri ta biwa ri ko ri ku cacaa!
Xigodlho hinkwaxo pongoo, hi tifengwana.
Tifengwana ta nkatsano wa marito ya mambvarambvara,
Ni wa ku rhudana mindzhumba ya mavito.
Hi nkarhi wolowo mungoma u khohlola hi xifuva,
A kandzela hi maentshi-entshi ya ximbuti.
Mathwasana wona ma ri karhi ma ba matshangu,
Xigodlho hinkwaxo xi hlove hi ridzukidzuki;
Ridzukidzuki ro Iwela ku pandza misava hi swikunwani,
Swikunwani swa rimbewu ra njhovo ni ra nghagula;
Xikongomelo xi ri xa ku lwela ku vhumba timhaka ta rivala.

Exikarhi ka dada muchayeriwa hi nceka mbhoo!
No dzinginiki ntoo!
Wa ha hlota moya wa mikwembu,
U nave ni milenge a nga se bukula,
Loko se a ta endzela hi mikwembu,
Miri wa yena nteku-nteku, tanihi mimpfi-ndlopfu
A ri karhi a lilingisiwa murhu wa tinhlolo to swekeleriwa.
A khomisiwe ni njhele yo n'wi komba nyongwa,
Hambi ku ri ku khoma masema emoyeni
Tanihi mbyana leyi hlongolaka xipene.
Loko nkarhi wa nthwaso wu ku ihii!
U vhuma no cina ta mikwembu yo gawela.

All three poems first published in Timbila 2005.

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VONANI BILA
VUYISILE MSILA
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