Slaughtered She-Camel

By Maxamed Ibraahin Warsame

People rushed toward the place
Where a she-camel was slaughtered,
In the turmoil and the instability
Each person acquired a piece of meat,
And every two individuals’ share
Fried their slices under the sun,
The outer covering skin and the bone
Were swallowed in dryness,
But what is worse than this;
Is the next crowd behind
Still feeling hungry
And seeing the smoke
At the top of deep-rooted mountains
Walking through thickly wooded places.

A snake has entered in the nook and in the secluded place
But a thorn lies below,
A coward refused to be belittled and lessened his authority,
The brave man ready to be beheaded,
The stallion’s importance and value
Exchanged it with his attractiveness and good-looking,
A haughty arrogantly superior showed up
Laughter has become a disguise for feelings of disappointments
Qabyo (the incompleteness of the affairs of the state) is untouched and not yet handled accordingly.

The aardvark forages for provisions
Goes hunting with and from the help of the lion
‘Go and catch it!’ she commands
‘The young camels and the oryxes’,
She allots herself to have five times the share
Of the meat of the animals hunted,
For his part in the general planning
The lion is offered the glands and the internal organs
‘Don’t be unsatisfied with the partition!’ she commands,
And the lion neither lose confidence and enthusiasm
Nor conceal his pain
Each time he remembers his broken pride
And the strong reaction to it
He starts lip-biting.

A snake has entered in the nook and in the secluded place
But a thorn lies below,
A coward refused to be belittled and lessened his authority,
The brave man ready to be beheaded,
The stallion’s importance and value
Exchanged it with his attractiveness and good-looking,
A haughty arrogantly superior showed up
Laughter has become a disguise for feelings of disappointments
Qabyo (the incompleteness of the affairs of the state) is untouched and not yet handled accordingly.

Never will I take and accept
A disrespectful bits and pieces of gifts,
Never will I share anything
With these people having an intense and selfish desire for power,
Well whether the burial places for dead bodies Manage without white shroud
Or a slit at neck amigaut,
One of the two been disposed to give to
Time and again I’ll utter my disappointment insistently and noisily
Till before the day of judgment
I’ll make a way the corpses into by force,
Let me be in a state of being hobbled and strapped together
Don’t try to untie the rope tying me up.

A snake has entered in the nook and in the secluded place
But a thorn lies below,
A coward refused to be belittled and lessened his authority,
The brave man ready to be beheaded,
The stallion’s importance and value
Exchanged it with his attractiveness and good-looking,
A haughty arrogantly superior showed up
Laughter has become a disguise for feelings of disappointments
Qabyo (the incompleteness of the affairs of the state) is untouched and not yet handled accordingly.

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