Kanakazi kabvwala

Diresi ya cikasu

Na maluba ba swesi

Kanakazi kageza

Cisko cili bilibili

Sisi lili ng’ani ng’ani

Kanakazi kayaya

Kanakazi kakwenda mnthowa

Koluta ku ungano

Na Agogo bake banakazi

Kanakazi kabvwala

Tenesi zituba

Kanakazi kanibeka

Maso bithu bakumana

Kamwetuka Namwetuka

Cimwemwe ca soni

Karabiska kunyake

Mtima wane wagunda

Makongono ghazizila

Thukutila paka paka

Kanakazi kanimwetukila

Agogo bake badangila

Wauka uli Tiyezghe

Mazgho ghane ghanjenjema

Nauka makora a Goodson

Kanakazi kayaya

Kanakazi kotowa

Kanakazi nkhakumana nako

Kumise usiku kuvimbuza

Kukhonde kwa nyumba

Zanga kuno Tiyezghe

Mupenja vici aGoodson?

Nikoleko bele

Nilije bele

Kanakazi kayaya kotowa

Kanakazi kafika pafupi

Nakakola pawoko

Cikumba ciri tofutofu

Ciuta wopanga uli kanthu kawemi?

Mazgho koyoboya mobelebeska

Ghakunifundiska mumtima

Imwe a Goodson nilekeni ine

Nkhupenja yayi

Zanga kuno nikoleko bele nawe

Ine nkhopa nthumbo

Nthumbo ungatola kukolako

Waka bele na lubunda

Kanakazi kayaya kotowa

Kanakazi kayimilila

Nakakola mulubunda

Kayamba kuthuta na befu

Nayamba kuthuta na befu

Iwe Tiyezghe nkhukutemwa

Ndiwe wotowa

Kanakazi kabelebeska

Imwe aGoodson kuyoboya

Nthana yayi

Kanakazi kayaya kotowa

Kanakazi kayaya

Kanifundiska mutima

Nayamba kukakola panyake

Kakabelebeska

Imwe kukola apa yayi

Ponowa

Iwe Tiyezghe nkhuti

Nikutole

Nilekeni nkhayimbe

Kuvimbuza nabanyane

Bakunilindila

Kanakazi kayaya kotowa

Jewel numero uno was born

Two days after Christmas festivities

Early drizzling rainy morning

Anxious expectant first father to be

Visits maternity ward

Steaming tea and egg sandwich in hand

Is it a boy or a girl?

The second jewel was born

Weeks after Christmas festivities

On Superbowl Sunday

Two feet of drifting snow

Bitter cold of seventy degrees

Below zero Michigan winter

Father abandons Joe Montana

Labor pains too intense

Abandon spectacular show

Lamaze classes amaze father

Monitor mother’s breathing

Second jewel born after

Chorus of commands to push

Ten pounds the nurse says

Ready to dunk the basketball

Three hundred and sixty degrees

On a bitter cold Michigan winter

Mother and father doing well

First jewels giggle nervously

Little brother finally here

Who is not quite so little

Head alone too big for lap

On a bitter cold Michigan winter

Third jewel is born

Nineteen days into the cold

Month of June of Savannah

In a desolate shanty compound

Clinic in Lusaka Africa

Built by the Irish

In the shanty compound

Named Kalingalinga

Men not allowed

Women in many states of undress

Stressful moans of labor pains

In the crowded maternity clinic

Father visits very hastily

Is it a boy or a girl?

I am outnumbered

Mother feigns complaint

With a twisted smile

On exhausted face

It is a boy

There goes a chance

For a delicate girl

Beautiful pretty dress

On Spring Easter Sunday

The tiny creature is alive

Breathing in rapid succession

Under the small baby blanket

Father squeezes wife’s hand

Kisses her on fore head

His eyes glisten all so slightly

Looks away dilapidated shanty

Murmuring congratulations

Will take you home in two hours

Now we have three jewels

The Swishing sound

Of the shower

Early in the morning

Of yet another bright day

Of yet another troubled day

Of another anxious day

The swishing sound

Of the shower

Marks the end of the night’s

Union of sharing

Snores and more

The same bed and the same covers

No more tender touches

No more tender kisses

Whispers of I love you

Till night we meet again

The swishing sound

Of the shower

Brings relief to

Estranged partners of

A zillion nights of sharing

Same bed and same covers

Same dreams and same expectations

Till night we wish

We could not meet again

The abrupt sound

Of the shower

Sharp and painful reminder

That even passionate secret lovers

Locked in blissful ecstasy

Do momentarily part

Only if for one day

A peck on the cheek

A squeeze of the cheek

A passionate French kiss

Till night do us part

Till next time do us part

The swishing sound

Of the shower

Brings to a sudden halt

Early morning yearnings

Of lovers’ send off for the day

Fingers of a centipede

Explore smooth crevices

Those kisses and tender groping

I have to hop in the shower

I will be late for work

Till night do us part

The swishing sound

Of the shower

Washes the sweat away

The sweet smell of womanhood

The sweet smell of manhood

Throwing the baby away

With the bath water

The pungent smell of cologne

The piercing whiff of

Channel number five

Till night do us part

Six months of searing

Dry heat

Dry brown dusty earth

Rains finally pour in torrential

Brown water rapidly filling

Meandering through

Gaping crevices of parched earth

The sweet smell of the first rains

Trillion insects suddenly

Burst into dizzying activity

Crawling, singing, flying

On the ground and in sky

Hissing and buzzing

Tiny, small, and large

Black, green, red, white insects

All lovely colors in between

Lone, pairs, many and numerous

Hissing herds of the sisinya

The tiny black sungununu

One of them

Roams the village dirt

Alone

In search of food victims

Pestle and Mortar pounding

Mother wearily places

Bare bottomed baby on the ground

Baby babbles playing mouthing

The dirt that is everywhere

Baby suddenly shrieks in gasps

Cries in sudden bursts

Baby just breast fed mother wonders

What could be the matter?

Mother inspects carefully

Baby’s bare bottom

Locates a tinny bump

The telltale sign

Of the secret sting of the

Tiny black Sungunu ant