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belaEti
seb
lekas belaEti seb ëyom
aEriQom
aTmiyom
aSmiom
ab Hawi Tebisom
kndi Cew berbere Slíi nesnisom
meriet deriQu eKle may rHiQu
seb uy / zbíI dyu weyanie kir kir kir / enguuuuy
mestyat
mestyat
eski ríayina
SbuQat endina
SbuQat belna
melaeKti nmesl
qienan / mienan
CemCam
qWelaE
nefaT / Afaf
TefnaQ
sheraf / gWeraf
jelaE
moTmWaT
mengag
negnag / azzan
zegaf / wenCar
beraH / melaT / yeblnan
enken keytwSelna
sbrbr kenebleki ina sbrbr
shila
ëya shila
weyzero kulubrhan
Alem tHluíla
shilaíya shla
ybhal
afriqa Semia
afriqa Temya
afriqa Hamima
afriqa twagaeíla
afriqa afriqa nzbla
kla bejaKa! kla!
afriqas amela ëyu amela
hager
ala
hager ala
gemgem baHri
egra Qolla
ríesa baHri
ní es ila
kebda gWahri
ríesa Kila
bnata SaEri
aybafan bgbri
feTirula
ms deqa fQri
men kKela
Haras nebri
mewelI
doíloki mewelI
ati brI eske smI
mewelI doíloki mewelI
mewelE shmA
medleyi Haqi
kndi merfíe
kndi EnqWi
Tefiatni abti Hasar
nay afriqa Hasar
gelen bTmyet
gelen bHmam
bmKustar
gelen bmsar
bmESad
gelen bmíesar
bmHSar
kndi deqa msírsar
ati brI eske smI
mewlI doíleki mewelI
gWal
meníya
wegHe SebHe
entezeyreKebkuwa
ríesey eHamm
gzie Qursi
gzie Qursn fereQan
gzie msaH
gzie msaHn fereQan
gzie drar
gzie drarn fereQan
msía ëloKu TQan TQan
bKenafrey tseluK
melHasey lHs
lbey trks
nefsey mls
HansaeHansae bwegI
agoza anSifna ab gezana
Etan bun endabelna
HansaeHansae btahwaK
ab banko bdewna teSegiEna
nraKeb Tray zgeberna gierna
ezi sebay tehaninu
gWal meníya tblu tKonu
azayida embza etQsqs wenu
gWal jebenaíya belu / gWal jebena / bunu
id
id teTabebi
qdm telazebi
ms Ayni
ms ezni
ms qelbi
ms lbi
aye id entebeluKi
mías nbeynKi
aytfetuníya
adunia aytfetuníya
zdrgWHala
may zHul zneSgela
may Selot zeybla
Hamed zeQWHma
Sebel zeydegma
adunia aytfetuníya
zdrgWHala
fQri
bQetri
SeHayey nssa
enteSelemku
entemeselku moQlo
enterhaSku
rhaS bsenkelo
bkolpo di sole
senkekel ile
enteQerebku kElo
bíay aytsekefu
kemíu zgebr fQri lo::
SeHayey nssa
sgay dahsisa nefsey qesqisa
Hawi agWidatley fQrey anaKisa::
klte
shH (2000)
ynwaH yHSer
Alem kab tfTer
ayfleTn yTrTer
seb ëyu TerTari
nAlem weTari
asnana qoSari
sherref derref
gelgel hilele
ms adgi aneSaSari
klte shH zeKbru
entay ms qoSeru
seb tefeTiru
ab Alem sefiru
aEgergiru angergiru
ms Segebes
kndi zQSaE temaHiru
b iyesus krstos memhru
seb seb koynu
nAy Tray teKenaKenu
arbaEte
noQTa::
SHufna
deret keyHalf
nmbraQ
nmErab
nsemien
ndebub
keyblena htf
berbaEte noQTa nQulf::
aSqT nzlflf
arbaEte noQta nzSHf::
weriduni
delaila
Sogru ms abqWelo
samson men kKíelo
shU tHaSe
beAlti melaSe
delaila
zegaf ríeya
ríesu laSya
aSebeQeto
seb teAdeme
awlo tebahle
masse tegeTme
waHs ms qome
merA tefeSeme
nbur kgebru
níedi tegeru
Eyo keyAyeye
gWerid ms abeye
samson alqese beKeye
aEruK jemeru / kemaríru
delaila ëya keto / zmeketeto
Hamat delaila
nezia semiiEn
awyat ms teKela
weriduni delaila!
ane zlaSeKuwo / ríesu
entay araKebo / ms fre nebsu?
bAl
melgom
bAl melgom
melgom Tefiato
ab godaif
Selmat nieru
may kifikif
atobus teseQilu
nshuQ abilu
Srgf
shuQ ms beSHe
abti zberhe
hasewsew
melgom Tefiuni
abey?
ab megedi
abey?
godaif gídi
entay día abzi tenadi?
ente berhaley ata wedi!
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They
Don't Eat People?
They don't eat people?
What do you call
Dressing them in rags,
Denying them food and drink,
Seasoning them with hate
And roasting them in the fire?
They don't eat people?
Why all these bones
Where there used to be grain?
Why all that crying out in pain
And so much laughing all night
With the hyenas?
Mirror
Dear Mirror,
Show us
What we know.
We're beautiful
As angels,
Not crooked,
And beady eyed
With flat, runny noses,
Bad teeth,
Fat lips
And huge jaws
Hung like beaks
On giant heads
With big ears
And bad hair --
Messy and too long
Or barely there,
Though never bald.
Reflect
Anything imperfect
And we bust your glass.
On
Her Watch
Eagle-eyed Albright
Watches day and night,
Ready to call security.
She sees famine and war
Faraway in Africa - a pity,
But what is Africa for?
At ease.
A
Country
She lays her cool head
And warm feet
By the sea.
Small, self made
Independent,
With a belly full of fire
And a big heart of wisdom,
She is blessed
With love and children.
I hear what she says
And rely on what she does,
Fierce as a tiger
With new cubs.
To
a Pen
Hey pen,
Please give me a light
For this candle.
Look at that haystack.
Where's the needle?
Look at this other heap
Where Africa is lost
Like a tiny bead of truth
In the sweepings
Of too many limbs and bodies
Hacked by machetes,
Mowed by hunger and disease,
Rotted in jails
And fenced off by oblivion,
When she could be
Happily raising her children.
Please pen,
Give me a light.
Whose
Daughter?
If I can't have her
Every morning every day
My head aches.
I take her at breakfast
And after breakfast.
I want her at lunch
And after lunch.
I need her at dinner
And after dinner.
She slides through my lips
And licks my tongue.
She comes in my mouth
And I'm a man
Down to my core.
Burning incense,
I take her leisurely
On my sheepskin at home.
If I need her really bad,
Any bar we're in will do,
And I take her standing up.
Whose daughter would do this,
Kiss after kiss after kiss
All day and all night long?
Is such behavior wrong?
Look in your pot on the fire.
I'll tell you her name -- coffee.
Dear
Hand
Dear Hand,
Before you act
Ask
Eye,
Ear,
Brain
And heart
What they would make
And join it
To your plan.
They'll say
"We have a hand"
In what you create
And "Give it a hand"
To praise your art.
Tell
It like It Is
Tell it like it is
And the world tells you --
Go to hell.
Cold water
Should be holy
If you throw it
On the status quo.
If you make
The world eat dirt,
Call it blessed.
Otherwise,
Tell it like it is
And the world tells you --
Go to hell.
Love
in the Daytime
My lover
Shines like the sun.
I may be burned
Black as a frying pan,
Sweating buckets
And keeling over
With vertigo,
But why worry?
My lover
Shines like the sun.
She pours over my body
And breathes into my soul.
It feels so good
When she lights
My love on fire
Like dry wood.
Y2K
Who knows how
Old or young
The world really is?
But asking her age
Means more
Than checking her teeth
Like a donkey.
I can celebrate
Two millennia
Of being created
To live, raise hell,
Roll in it, cry
Enough and die
So the love of Jesus
Can forgive me.
But what about before?
I better count again
And this time be less vain.
Four
Dots ::
Four dots
Demarcate
Tigrinya sentences
Like the lock
On a border gate.
Four dots
::
Pin east, west, north and south
To one spot.
Writing and mouth
Stop.
"I
Cut His Hair"
When he strutted down the street
Nobody could compete
With Samson and his hair.
Delilah, fresh out of beauty school,
Saw him and said, "You're cool."
She was beautiful and he proposed.
"Yes, oh yes, yes, yes," she cooed,
"And let me do your hair, it's great."
She made Samson into one handsome dude.
The wedding couldn't have been better.
Live music, poems, the best food and wine
And thousands of guests on the conga line
Cheering the newlyweds to their bed.
Lovely Delilah stripped, revealing her charms.
She welcomed Samson into her long arms
But he couldn't get it up and cried.
"She castrated him." His friends spread the word.
His mother screamed and shouted bloody murder.
Sad Delilah heard and calmly stared
Them in the eyes: "I didn't cut off his balls.
I cut his hair."
Man
and Button
A dark, rainy day
On the city limits
Where a man loses
His button,
Grabs a bus
To the market
And starts looking:
Can I help you?
I lost a button.
Where?
On the road.
Where?
At the city limits.
Why look here?
The light, the light, my son.
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