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Nigel Obiya May 2013
I have an issue
One that weighs heavily upon my heart
One that, if left unchecked, threatens to tear our social moral fiber apart
An issue I will express in English, with some help from my old friend Swahili
Hii imenisumbua akili, kwa hivyo kuiongelea ni kitu tunastahili
Hii story ya immorality tunaichukulia so so light
Dem akiji'expose kidogo mbele ya kamera haina mseo, tunampandisha cheo kwa society, all of a sudden ye ni socialite
The new cool, eti ‘good girl gone bad’
Hiyo njaro siyo polite

We have a lot more to live for than that which we seem to be aware of
It’s not always about a good time, or lack thereof
Our reputation as a culture I believe is something we badly need to take care of
Siyo game
Siyo Jokes
Si eti mambo na fame

It shouldn’t just be about who drinks, who smokes, who vomits and who chokes
Hiyo lifestyle siyo dope
Na siyo right

Six hundred and seventy something ways to die… choose one
I refuse to go… speeding down a highway, drunk out of my mind, on another booz run
However, I may not exactly be the right person to point out how messed up you are
On a scale of one to ten?
I’m probably as guilty as you are
*******!
English... I speak it, I write it
Swahili... I'm proud of my heritage and culture, this language represents that and allows me to express my thoughts
Sheng'... It's slang, every culture has one, I can't help but speak and write it

Finally... I just did what I usually do, in more languages than one.
Hermes Varini Nov 2022
Feudal, an’ Deep Swaird Scar-Faced Ah,

Th’ Lone Skye-Horror

Thad heare Ah once gleamingly wore,
Nowe! intae Theis Abysmal ay Past Fyre-Lore,
Ye a’ Skellums, see! Theis Rage o’ mine thad Ah bore
Heare! wae mah Thundir-Airn tirlin’, nae a Woe,
Taukin’ nowe Ah! wae th’ Wynde-Tone O’erhuman, fore
Abön th’ Skye-Storne wæs ay yondir Friendly Shore,
Wae a Pause wi’in mah strugglin’, nae ay any more,
Th’ Scyld Ah haudin’ unco glowin’, ‘yont th’ Castle Dore,
Whatna! Theis Airn-Wame o’ mine, Rageful ays nae afore,
Thro’ th’ Skye-Pruid ay Lightnings, an’ e’en skye-more,
*** ay standin’, ‘yont th’ Drakkar Ablaze, wae th’ Burnan Ore,
Thus Ðhunder-Imbued, Bluish Fyre becam mah flowin’ Gore,
O’er th’ Rid Rock soarin’, wrapped in th’ Auld taukin’ Lowe,
Revenge oan th’ Dust, wi’in theis Hill graven! stick-an-stowe,
Quhain! th’ Ocean abowt mah Person, th’ Gale intae twa it tore,
Quhain! th’ Return o’ Pow’r gaed tae its Guid Hel o’ Yore,
Quhain! a Firey Ember wæs mah Rubye Brooch ay hynne nowe,
‘Yont th’ Seven-Headed Beast Winged, wha Grim He swore,
Mah Frame Axe-Wounded, Rays emittin’ frae ilka pore,
Deep intae theis ay Norland Janwar’s bitin’ owre Frore,
An’ a Mirror appeared! thro’ th’ Thunderbolts, nae thair Chore,
Nae Gode bit th’ Owar-Mann! mah Steel-Ghaist, nae tae adore,
Quher! mah Battle-Scars Rid wur stylle thais unco a Soare,
Quher! th’ Cauld theare wæs tae mah Throat aye smore,
Quher! mah Sel-Reflection dazzlin’ it wæs, thro’ th’ Aurore,
Togiddir wae mah Chain Mail flashin’, tae th’ Whyte Core!

ŌFER-MANNES BEADULÉOMAN WÆLGRYRE,
NIHTES HRÍÐUM SĊĒAWERE OND WÆPENÞRACUM
UNDER HERE-GRĪMAN OÞÍEWEDE SE DWIMOR,
HWÆR SWĀ MISGEWIDERE ECGÞRACU MAÞELODE,

SIGRSÆLL EK AFSKRÆMI-LIGA MIS-YRKI,
ÞÁ EN GINSTAN MEÐ MJÖK FRÆKNLIGA
VIND-ǪLD ÞVÍ NÆST ALMÁTTIGR ALFÖÐR,

QVA RE

ALTO A SEPTENTRIONE VINTICTÆ CVM FVLMINE

DEVS RVBRA FEVDORVM SECVRE THOR NOMINE MEORVM
SPECVLO CHALIBE SIVE SCVTO MEO SOLISQVE POLITISSIMO
RVBRO IN TEMPLO CVM ILLE NVNC AIT MIHI ALTOQVE
MEA REX SIVE BELLATOR OVERMAN NOMINE SPATHA
VT INGNEVS SIT MAXIME HOC TONITRVO MEVS VIGOR
AC FVGIENDA FVLMINE ESSE CÆRVLEO HIC VMBRA
ET INTRA FLAMMAS AC RVBRA EX FEODALE VLTIONE
ALBO HIC FVLMINE AC HYDRA SEPTEM CAPITIBVS RVBRA
LIVIDO EX IGNE GRÆCO PROFVNDE HIC FACETE DICTO

ENΘΔE KAI ΔE ETI
AΦΘONΩΣ Ω OVERMAN

OΛΩΣ ΔE ΠΟΚΑΤΑΣΤΑΣIΣ ΠANTH
KAI ΔYNAMIΣ ΓE KAI AΛHΘEIA TEΩΣ
NYN ΔOΞA KAI ΔE KAI ΔAIMΩN

STAT DEMVM ILLE HIC NOMINE REX I

QVA RE

FERRO AMICTVS FEODALE IMMORTALIQVE TOTALITER EGO CVM SPATHA
VBI LIVIDA MEA SPECVLI REFLECTIONE AC VESTE CONCREVERVNT CHALYBIS FVLMINA

QVOAD

AD INFINITVM PERPETVO RECVRRENS POTENTIÆ INCREMENTO SICVT IGNEA ROTA HÆC IMAGO
FEODALIS SIVE O ΔΑIΜΩΝ GRÆCO VERBO MEA EX FVLMINIBVS IN SPECVLO LIVIDA
AC POST DE BRVNANBVRH PROELIVM ASSIDVE DE OVERMAN CRVORE POTENTIOR IGNEA

QVIA

VENIT RECVRSV POTENTIÆ HOC IDVLVM IVGITER SIVE TO EIΔΩΛON EXTRAMVNDANVM MIHI
AC HÆ SVNT LEX RATIOQVE DE OVERMAN INVIOLABILITER HAC IN LAPIDE INSCRIPTÆ

QVOMODO

FVLGORIS NATVRA OVERMAN SIVE ENAPXIKH TPIAΣ EXCELLENTIA ESSENTIÆ
HOC FVLMINORVM INCREMENTO SINE FINE AC SINE INITIO HVIVS TEMPESTATIS MAGNI AC IRÆ MEÆ

QVAQVMQVE

SVMMA EST IN SCVTO SIVE SPECVLO CONTINVATIONEM ILLE GENERANS ET VLTOR
AC MVTATIONIS INCREMENTVM TONITRVO SICVT ΔEYPO TΩ EMΩ AIMATI PERSEVERANS

QVONIAM

SIT DENVO GRÆCA CVM VOCE AC TONITRVO EX SANGVINE MEO IGNEO
FEODALE HORVM FVLMINORVM METALLICO CORPORE MEA VINDICTA SICVT

ΜOΝΗ EΣTI ΚΑΙ ΠΡOΟΔΟΣ ΚΑI ΔH ΚΑI ΕΠΙΣΤΡΟΦH
EΝ ΤΩ ΧΡOΝΩ ΦΑΣΜΑΤΑ

QVONDAM

ΤA ΠAΝΤΑ AEI ΚOΣΜΟΣ-ΛOΓΟΣ ΚΑΙ ΜEΤΡΟΝ
ΤO ΓΕ ΝYΝ ΓΝΩΣΙΣ

AC RELVCENTEM MAGNVMQVE IN SPECVLO LAVDO ET CANO VINDICEM
ET PERGITE RVBRA HAC IN ALTISSIMA RVPE HVIVS HIEMIS FVLMINA

AD QVEM

IRA CVM EXTRAMVNDANA MEA ET FEODALE CORPORE

LOCVM  FERRO AMICTVS SPATHA SCVTOQVE PERVENIEBAM NATANS
INTRA OCEANVM AD VERGENTIS OCCASVM CALEDONIÆ REGNI SICVT

OVERMAN ECGÞRACU.
Set after the Battle of Brunanburh in A.D. 937, this composition of mine, or rather brief epic, in archaic Scots, Classical Latin, Anglo-Saxon, Old Norse and ancient Greek, tells of a lone warrior, severely wounded after the battle, whose blood turns into fire and lightnings, as attracted by his armor, when a mirror appears before him as formed by thunderbolts themselves ("VBI LIVIDA MEA SPECVLI REFLECTIONE AC VESTE CONCREVERVNT CHALYBIS FVLMINA"), at the top of a soaring rock off the coast of western Scotland ("INTRA OCEANVM AD VERGENTIS OCCASVM CALEDONIÆ REGNI"), during a storm, therein obtaining immortality, upon his own reflected self, that is, the Overman himself, recurring over and over more powerful to the infinite as one person ("AD INFINITVM PERPETVO RECVRRENS POTENTIÆ INCREMENTO SICVT IGNEA ROTA HÆC IMAGO"). My own Return of Power event thus surfaces. How he was able to reach this rock, in his own bleeding condition, and in a heavy iron vest with sword and shield while swimming, I leave it undefined, hence to the interpretation of the reader. The title reads “The Overman through the Onrush of Swords”. “Ah” is “I”, "wae" is "with", and "stick-an-stowe", "totally", "altogether".
Muzaffer Feb 2019
tilki
sıyrılıverdi
monoton yuvasından
poligam soludu göğün rengi
lanetledi uçan bulutlar
ve günah aktı oluk oluk
bin şükür mezrasından...
tilki
hemcinsine gebe kaldı
çakal’ın yürüdüğü izden
izler ve remizlerdi
temizdi
kaçak eti gizleyen
halde
pele'ydi günlerden
aylardan şubat..

çekildi gözden sürme
gerildi foseptik kokular

ve
ve
ve!

bir tilki
bir tilkiyi doğurdu
ana kız birlik olup
bir çakalı doyurdu...
Mateuš Conrad May 2021
może to nie sny o zębach...
na "niby": może pomoże
metafora...

look here: the old tongue sometimes
pops from beneath the ground
aligned with a mole hill...
a baroque tease of
              effort...

że jest dwadzieścia-sześć perł w angielskim...
a... 32 perł w tym oto polskim...
tyle ile ja mam: czy miałem: zębów...
trzydzieści-asz-dwa...

        fo-ka... seal...the animal...
pieczęć... also seal... the candle wax in red...
bothersome:
the Italians are singing...
perhaps they're singing because
they have words with clear
syllables...
consonant vowel consonant vowel...
mo-rr-eti!
                  
if i were to write all the rulebook
words in katakana like
the japanese juxtapose katakana
with hiragana...

            how ugly the word: dwell...
must look like with no 2 of the 90° eL...
dwel - my my... looks almost Welsh!

but i would sooner be teasing some deutsche...
imagine...
only 100 years from this here: ago...
two ****** writers were having a discussion:
if we're still speaking our tongue down
the line...

and yet... the prospect of immigration
in England... "prospect"...
this adamant desire to integrate...
with the tongues and the babes
sacrificed on the unforgiving altar
of the new-natives...
which aren't even the "eskimos" of these isles...
how "they" will just... cut all ties to...

i kept my own because:
being bilingual is somehow a disability...
bilingual = schizophrenic?
  by that standard of "inquiry": i'm a *******
quadratic!
it's sad for english per se...
this tongue is bleeding miseries of being
hijacked and... beside the brain-drain
from respective sources of race-baiting...
it's sad that it's this odd vanguard of scribble
of graffiti...

translation:
maybe it's not a dream about teeth
on a "maybe"... supposedly...
maybe a metaphor will help me...
that there are 26 pearls in the english tongue
but... 32 pearls in this, e.g. western slavic...
with how many i have: or had: teeth
30-as-many-as-2-more...

i can be owed a sentence for myself to divulge
concerning the natives...
there are still some 'ere...
mind you: before the phenomenon
of the white-flight after the "minorities"
move into the area... the Hebrews are first to flee...
take Gants Hill and the vicinity, for example...

it's impossible to escape a language under
mutation...
some ownership... some less so...
it's a gravitation toward a hollow point...
i will never be able to write down
the sound a sparrow makes...
bogus point of the onomatopoeia...
aligned intelligence
of man, chair and crow...
a chair might creak... there's that knock
on wood...
the crow croaks...
kra-kra is my best estimate...
wasted lettering...

           i will willingly learn some deutsche...
no existential threat on the mother-tongue...
spanish was never going to be undermined..
but lodged between the prussians
and the russians; oh my... lot...
managed to visit Moscow... St. Petersburg...
have a russian **-**-**...
we were young, once, upon, a, time...

blisters of ol' Greek with modifications:
done on the cheap... with Cyrillic...
but when a minority speaks only English...
and... is this... hollow... shell...
race... too lazily they forgot their mothers
and their tongues...
now all this authoritative *******...
can the natives stand in line... first?
maybe i'm the only ****** the only king-rat...
i don't mind the analogy...
i have the fox for a totem-affinity...
and... since... the Brits abhor foxes...
here's to me running with mares!

- how can they feel so "suddenly" present...
when they want to lose their tongue:
"all of a sudden"?
these minorities...
lazy ***** and lassos...
bilingualism is never the option?
traces of a past... most proclaimed in culinary
escapades?
that's it?
seriously?
figures... your language was never undermined
with prospect of extinction...
maybe that's an over-exaggerated assumption...
but... you never know:
can the dead lie?

i'd respect "you" more if you allowed yourself
the retention of your mother's tongue...
i truly would...
beside this... force x **** mechanism
of... "invigoration" of local culture... or lack of...
almost mindless automatons...
out of self-respect... out of purpose that's
memory...
no... english could have been the tongue
of the natives... it could also have been
this pragmatic tong(ue) and gloo
of economic strategies...

it's sad... the minorities "forgot" their mother
tongue... integrate into what?
your skin deep skins' all over the debate...
english is currently... beyond mutated...
it's... having a session in an iron maiden...

- must be an intra-european dynamic...
it's not like the the french language or
spanish... or... would ever be deemed:
"undermined"...
but what, the ****, happened... to those poor
sods come the closure: the folding on
the british empire...
the crow suddenly forgot to usher in  croacking?
the dog suddenly forgot to bark?
your mothers on a ****-pile of:
can't the natives orientate themselves
with their... tongue?
i'm here, expecting "them" to do so...
a gaping wound and some procrastination...
beside the language of the natives:
there's this pragmatic membrane
of focus where: we all... do... "****"...

i have no, or little: therefore...
respect for minorities who chase status
without employing a standard bearer focus
for: keeping the household together...
the tongue... the tongue...
to hell with the whole lot of those
west African *******...
no... they are... just that...
what's your ******* tongue?
at least the darker exemplar of east Africa
retain their sense of humour...
oil 'em up...
ivory beauties... sheen of a shining shmile...

marcus garvey first!
come again... have that sort of ******* argument,
"argument" in Russia...
i see you now...  limbo sinking...
****** forgot to speak his mother's...
i have no respect for you and your....
ink...

angry western serfs of africa'ca'ca...
chain a donkey chain an elephant...
               but feed me, please....
keep me intact... i am the reason for your abandoning
your tongue?
guess it's indistinguishable to even tell apart
a Bulgar from a ****** from a Croat...
this little world of Europe and the faulty imaginings of
some Gweek...

white women's self-lacerations...
*****-please... anyone can become a saint
at the foot of the crucifix...
when they might giggle and kiss the feet
of the crucified 'un...

it's just sad... look at 'em go!
hijacking the english language...
with a net loss of soul of their own sprechen...
it's sad and it's doubly sad
because;
it's not some Beckett complication...
if i were a Camus...
if there was this Algerian oopsy...

no wonder i drifted toward...
Scandinavian folk music...
i'm about to itch a regurgitation for anything
associated with punjabi m.c.:
****! get the mace! get the broom!

how these people "forgot" their native tongue...
it's a sadness that's
de nada: algo - sin embargo...

"you" allowed a Rotherham...
              i'm about to become this...
omni- litany... and father?
for the concern of... girls... weeded?

to tow this amount of stones...
   like a crumpet like a mirage...
like grief most... shifty...
then again... for concern of the natives:
beside the hippy 1970s nostalgia:
once upon a time come Hyde Park... which was
never going to be a Warsaw...

no... that's innit for a please it...
mann-im-der-sardinekönnen:
herr-verstopfen...
                   hier.. jetzt...
       nein rot! nein rot!
hier wir ar!

— The End —