United Republic of Tanzania

Open up your heart
And your wallet
Give me your love
And all your money

I don’t care what age you are
Just buy me a new car
Let’s sell your house
And live in a bar

I’ll take you to the skies
If you buy me a plane
I’ll even show you heaven
I’ll fly in circles

When you get down on your knees
Forget the ring
Just give me the keys
To the big house you built
And under my name
Don’t you forget it!

Give me tanzanite
I’ll make my own wedding ring
After all it sells better
If it is not tampered with

For our honeymoon
Take me to the moon
If you take me to Korea
You might as well leave me there

Ten years later
If you still own your shares
You’ll be a married man
Happily married to me
I’ll be married to your wealth
Happily spending your cash
My love for you will never die
Till bankruptcy do us part.

Unaogopa sauti yangu?
Kwani ni nani aliekuambia kua sauti yako inaweza kutusemea sote?
Au ni unyororo wake unaokufanya ufikirie mimi ni mdhaifu?
Unaogopa maumbile yangu?
Unono wa kifua changu, na upana wa nyonga yangu?
Hata kwa mtazamo naonekana shupavu,
Ushujaa sio mabavu!
Mwendo wangu wa mnyato, mithili ya simba jike,
Lakini pamoja na nguvu zangu,
Natumia kalamu, sio mateke.

Are you afraid of my voice?
Who told you your voice can speak for us both?
Is it its softness that makes you think I am weak?
Are you afraid of my body?
The fullness of my chest and the thickness of my hips?
Even at a glance, I look strong.
But my strength doesn’t need force
I walk in stealth like a lioness
And despite my power
I use a pen, not a punt

Unaogopa kuumia?
Au ndio unamlipiza Mola kisasi
kumnyofoa Adamu ubavu?
Kwa hiyo ndio kila siku unataka kunipiga ngumi za mbavu!!!!!
Kwani ni nani aliyekuambia kua alifanya makosa?
Kama alikua anataka ubabe,
Basi si angenyofoa unyayo ili kila siku
tukanyagwe! Tukanyagwe!

Are you afraid of getting hurt?
Or is this your vengeance against God
for taking Adam’s rib?
So everyday, you want to kick me in the ribs?
Who told you he made a mistake?
If he wanted oppression
wouldn’t he have taken the sole of his foot
so, every day, you can step on us.

Usingizi si nusu kifo, hebu fungua macho!!!
Ung’avu wa sura yangu haifanyi yako kua hafifu.
Tusiogope usawa jamani!
Mama akiwa mwerevu hakumfanyi baba mbumbumbu,
Wala hakuna kinachopungua mwendawazimu akipoteza kumbukumbu,
Tuache mambo ya juzi,
Tusisingizie utamaduni, wala vitabu vya dini.
Hakuna kulikoandikwa kua kaskazini yazidi kusini.
Tumegawanyika sawa, nusu wewe, nusu mimi.

A slumber is not half death, please open your eyes
The brightness in my face doesn’t dim yours,
don’t be afraid of equality.
A smart mother doesn’t make a dumb father,
and there is nothing lost if a madman forgets,
Let’s forget the old days
Let’s not blame tradition, or religion
It’s not written anywhere that the north is better than the south
We are equal, you and I, half you, half me.

Mfalme hawezi potea kwa kumsikiliza malkia,
Tushirikishane kwenye maamuzi,
sisi sio ving’amuzi,
kila picha unayoleta, tunapokea!
Eti wewe mtoto wa kike, olewa tu!!
Shule ya nini.
We mama mjane, onewa tu!!
Nyumba wape.
We bibi kizee, sogea huko!!
Hatakiwi kusikika.
Hapana!

A king doesn’t lose by listening to the queen
Let’s make decisions together
We are not television decoders
that accept whatever picture you bring
You’re a young girl, just get married’
what is school for?
You’re widow, accept their tyranny,
let them take your house.
You’re an old woman, move aside
you don’t have a voice.
No!

Sote tuna nafasi,
Kama vile jembe na mpini,
Moja halifanyi kazi bila jingine,
Tulete mabadiliko,
kuanzia sehemu za kazi, hata huko majumbani,
Kubali mabadiliko,
Ongeza Kasi,
Mtu mke, mtu mume,
Sote tu sawa.

We all have place in this world,
Like a paddle and handle,
We all need each other,
So, let’s bring change, fast!
In our workplaces and our homes
Women and men
We are equal.

Why doesn’t love come with a manual?

How to hug her frail body
without breaking apart
How to rip open your chest
and give her your heart
if it could heal her
How to ask her endure for a while
How to take away the pain of your beloved
Where to find the cure
How to go back in time and chase away the hurt before it comes

‘though there is no manual for how to rid ourselves of tough times

May you find the strength to endure for a night,
There will be light
and Insha’Allah, it will be alright.

Are you leaving Al-Kindi tonight,
The stars and the round moons wrapped in a celestial roof,
Are you packing your kisses, your hugs and your secret glances
with you?
The fire will be extinguished tonight,
the woods will go damp,
Do you recall, even as you turn your back against me, the:
copper colored beach that has sealed mysterious and a painful
history,
Coconut swinging,
to and fro,
chanting and praying,
Like a mantis, with eyes like red sun on an altar of leaf,
Under an assault of wind,
forward and backward,
in domains of modernity and tradition,
In the world of the dead and living,
bowing to the commands of the most-high-in-the-sky,
Do you ever visit these moments ‘oh mendacious daughter of house
of Zanj’?
Blue waters, drenched in aquamarine wisdom of our ancestors,
Blue oceans that touch hands with ‘those that have gone’
In the mind of these oceans exists a beach,
A sandy beach, with pebbles of memory,
There are tiny holes in this beach,
tiny holes and sporadic,
the fractals of our varying triumphs and defeats in quest for
love,
A lonely crab of the Island of Segeju emerges cautiously from
her hole,
awaken by the footsteps of a passerby,
she smiles through her diaphanous shell,
reads the thought of the passer by,
hesitant steps,
then she shyly burrows herself in her dark cave,
Do you ever think that I that can forever carry these tears in
my eyes?
The thought of you leaving me has sent thermal spears to my
heart,
creating a boiling and a burning sensation,
Remember daughter of Shungwaya,
When the sharp horns of the biggest Segeju bull prickles my
heart,
my heart dreams and grows branches like a Mnjaa tree during the
Masika season,
I see my grandmother weaving a carpet,
I see being weaved by the hands of nature,
a strand and a layer at a time,
The colors, patterns and shape she applies to the carpet,
I feel my life is being weaved by skilled hands,
Have you ever heard the beats of tall Kuro drum?
I hear my weak steps not ready to take risks,
I also hear strong beats,
courageous rivers fed by streams of
primordial wisdom,
My struggles being peeled and recasted one strand at a time to
create a carpet of my thoughts and actions,
Something will die tonight,
The stars looks like agitated scorpions,
their tails high, promising wrath,
they will inject poison to the one left,
left behind by the daughter of Al-Kindi.