Abstract
Ciugo ikuuma kũ cia kuuga na kuugĩra ruo Rwa ciana na atumia na athuuri gũceeherwo thĩ? Ndũnyũ ya Westgate ĩgatuĩka mbĩrĩra ya mũingĩ? Ndĩrageria gwĩciria cia Kofi mũriũ wa Ghana Ngoro ĩkaheha kĩeha gĩtarehereka Ĩkahehenara kĩheho kĩhehu gũkĩra kĩa mbarabu
Thakame yaku ũgĩũka thĩ ĩno Ghana yaitire gĩkeno
Thakame yaku ũkiuma thĩ ĩno Kenya yakayaga kĩrĩro
Nĩ ngũririkana rĩrĩa rĩmwe twacemanirie Makerere Kĩgomanoinĩ kĩa andĩki a Abirika Kampala Tũkĩaria cia Ghana na Kenya na wĩyathi wa Mwabirika Jomo Kenyatta na Kwame Nkrumah maatũire Rũraya Matetagĩra wĩyathi wa Nyakairũ na rũrũmwe rwa Abirika Mategũthutũkania mũithĩramu mũkiricitũ mũndini ũyũ kana ũyũ Jomo na Kwame maatũire mahunjagia wĩtĩkio ũmwe tu Wa rũrũmwe rwa Abirika na Nyakairũ handũ yarũma
Thakame yaku ũgĩũka thĩ ĩno Ghana yaitire gĩkeno
Thakame yaku ũkiuma thĩ ĩno Kenya yakayaga kĩrĩro
Awoonor mũrutwo wa Nkrumah Ũrĩa wanĩrĩire wĩyathi nĩ rĩu ti rũciũ Awoonor mũriũ wa Ghana Ĩrĩa yanĩrĩire wĩyathi wa Abirika nĩ wakinya Awoonor mũriũ wa Abirika ya Nkrumah na Nasser na Kenyatta Abirika ya Zik na Ben Bella na Mandela na Kĩmathi O nawe wanorũũra thĩ ng’ima Ũhunjagia cia rũrũmwe rwa andũ airũ Ũtegũthutũkania ũkiricitũ ũithĩramu ũndini ũyũ ka ũyũ O ta Jomo na Kwame na Zik wĩtĩkio waku warĩ ũmwe tu Wa rũrũmwe rwa Abirika na Nyakairũ handũ yarũma Na githĩ rũu rwĩmbo tirwo watũire ũinaga marebetainĩ? Marebeta maku moimire nyĩmboinĩ cia Mũingĩ Marebeta maku magĩtuĩka mĩgambo ya mũingĩ Marebete maku moigaga mũingĩ ũingĩhie hinya
Thakame yaku ũgĩũka thĩ ĩno Ghana yaitire gĩkeno
Thakame yaku ũkiuma thĩ ĩno Kenya yakayaga kĩrĩro
Nĩ ma nĩ tũngĩendire gũkuumagaria na gĩtĩyo Na ihũũni na ngemi na nyĩmbo cia njamba ĩkĩinũka mũciĩ Nĩtũngĩendire gũita kanini thĩ Kwĩra Jomo na Kwame na arĩa aitũ maathire tene wĩ njĩrainĩ No nĩ twatunyirwo wee tũteherarĩirie gũkumagaria na nyĩmbo Kofi wĩra nĩ warutĩire thĩ Kofi nĩ werutiĩre Abirika Huurũka na athuuri arĩa angĩ Nĩ ma nĩ watunyirwo ihihia Na thakame gũceera mĩkihainĩ Na ithuĩ tũgĩtunywo mĩtheko yaku Na rũrĩmĩ rwaku rũkĩrĩmĩra ngoro citũ No nĩ mwĩrĩ waku maacokirie tĩĩriinĩ Ngoro yaku ĩrĩ hamwe na ithuĩ Tũkĩina rwĩmbo rwa Abirika
Thakame yaku ũgĩũka thĩ ĩno Ghana yaitire gĩkeno
Thakame yaku ũkiuma thĩ ĩno Kenya yakayaga kĩrĩro
Reke thakame yaku ĩtuĩke igongona Rĩa kweheria rũmena, njatũkano na mũnyarirano Reke thakame yaku ĩtuĩke igongona Rĩa kũreehe thayũ Abirika na Thĩ Thĩ ĩno ĩtuĩke ya Mũingĩ Thaai Koma na wega na thayũ Thĩ ĩno yaku, tene na tene, mũrũ wa Maitũ!
(English translation from the Gikuyu)
Where do I get words to carry the pain Of children women and men mowed down in their bloom Westgate market turned into a mass grave? When I think of Kofi son of Ghana My heart wells up with sorrow It shivers with cold icier than ice
The blood of your first arrival in Ghana rained joy
The blood of your final going in Kenya reigned horror
I remember that time when we met at Makerere A gathering of writers of Africa in 1962 Kampala We talked of Ghana and Kenya and African freedom Jomo Kenyatta and Kwame Nkrumah spent years abroad Dreaming and fighting for black freedom and one Africa Without discriminating Muslim Christian or tradition this and that Jomo and Kwame preached one faith only A united Africa and black people the world over Awoonor who learnt under the feet of the Nkrumah Who said freedom was now not tomorrow Awoonor son of the Ghana That announced that Africa’s freedom had come Awoonor son of the Africa of Nkrumah Kenyatta and Nasser The Africa of Zik Ben Bella Mandela and Kimathi
The blood of your first arrival in Ghana rained joy
The blood of your final departure in Kenya reigned horror
You too have roamed the earth Telling the story of one black people Regardless of Muslim Christian or tradition this and that Like Jomo and Kwame and Zik you were driven by one faith The union of Africa and black people the world over Was that not the refrain in all your poetry? Your poems came from songs of the people Your poems became voices of the people Your poems were for a people empowered
The blood of your first arrival in Ghana rained joy
The blood of your final departure in Kenya reigned horror
We would have liked to send you off with clamor and dignity Whistlings and ululations and dirges befitting a hero at the journeys end We would have loved to pour libation on the earth To tell Jomo and Kwame and others that you’re on the way But they snatched you from us Kofi we were not ready with songs of farewell We knew you had miles to go before the journey’s end
The blood of your first arrival in Ghana rained joy
The blood of your final departure in Kenya reigned horror
Kofi you worked for Africa Kofi you gave your life to Africa Rest among the ancestors in peace It’s true the terror’s bullets snuffed your breath That they stopped your blood flowing in the veins That they robbed us of your laughter that buoyed up our souls That they cut off your tongue that filled our souls with wisdom But they just took your body back to the soil Your spirit dwells amongst us As we sing the song of one Africa
The blood of your first arrival in Ghana rained joy
The blood of your final going in Kenya reigned horror
May your blood become the sacrifice That washes away hatred divisions and suffering May your blood become the sacrifice That brings peace to Africa and the earth Peace Sleep in peace and wellbeing This earth forever yours my brother.
Editor’s note
Kofi Awoonor (1935–2013) was a poet, literary critic, professor of comparative literature and served as an ambassador for Ghana. Shortly after participating in the Storymoja Hay Festival in Nairobi, Kenya in September 2013, he was shot and killed in the attack on the Westgate shopping mall in Nairobi.
Awoonor was born in Wheta, Ghana. He earned a BA from University College of Ghana, an MA from University College, London, and a PhD in comparative literature from SUNY Stony Brook. The author of several novels, This Earth, My Brother (1971) and Comes the Voyager at Last (1992), he also wrote plays, political essays, literary criticism and a number of volumes of poetry. His poems include Rediscovery and Other Poems (1964), Night of My Blood (1971), The House By the Sea (1978) and the newly published New and Selected Poems, 1964–2013. The form of his early poetry drew from the Ewe oral tradition and he translated Ewe poetry in his critical study Guardians of the Sacred Word and Ewe Poetry (1974).
Within months of Awoonor’s return to Ghana from the United States in 1975 to teach at the University of Cape Coast, he was arrested and tried for suspected involvement in a coup. He was imprisoned without trial and wrote about his time in jail in The House by the Sea. After imprisonment Awoonor became politically active. He was the Ghanaian ambassador to Brazil and Cuba in the 1980s and ambassador to the United Nations from 1990 to 1994. His non-fiction work includes The Breast of the Earth: A Survey of the History, Culture and Literature of Africa South of the Sahara (1975); Ghana: A Political History from Pre-European to Modern Times (1990); and The African Predicament: Collection of Essays (2006).