Sam Obaloker : Song of Lomulo

Once every harvest season,

When the moonlit dance invited

Competing drumbeats which shook the foot of the hills

Young men and women would fest with laughter and Merriment

Knowing the gods will bless and enjoin in their happiness

As the new season is begun



Here, amidst the thick dust of merriment,

Lomulo, son of Diik saw the radiant silhouette of a dancing beauty- Kasara

The glistening ebony tan of her exposed body found expression within his heart

Stunned and staring, these words found their way out of his lips like paws of the squirrel which raises soft flutters behind the eucalyptus brush:





"Eh my! Eh My! I have never felt this strange feeling before...so strong, so captivating!

What have I done to fall in love like a foolish hunter whose trap crushed under foot of the gigantic elephant? What is this happening to me?

This woman of Kor Deleb has taken my manhood for a ride round the towering Okire hills where offerings to the Jok has been defied by the white farer whose spear roared like a thousand thunders in the sky! I had left but my shield, an empty gourd, and the heart of a child to hide behind the brush with the shameful defeat of my kinsmen whose spears fell short at the feet of this Jur (alien)



Now, holding dear to my disputed manhood, I will crawl into your arms, Kasara, like a true hero and whisper my story before the beautiful smile on your bare lips and fail not like my poor kinsmen who feared to face the white man’s roaring spear but with the taste of the exquisite savour your sweet gait holds.

I will hold in my heart the elegance of your beauty and the exotic aroma from your neck-beads mixed in the fair sweat of your pure youth…tell me, Kasara, how otherwise could I be resurrected from this painful reality but in defeat and captivity by love itself! I have discovered reality by the glimpse of the pouting moonlit behind the clouds, and first sight love, in the rare beauty of your fair African maidenhood! Take me into your strong arms and I will sing to your sharp ears the secrete incantations of my people which held dear the promise of the gods to the people of my side of the River Nile! Love me, marry me, and nothing but happiness shall forever be yours to our offspring’s story of the origin of a great clan from the rift valley…my mother had taught me well and I have the excellent sight of the hawk which spots the best from the distance. And I have but spotted you, my pure ebony dark queen!"

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