LET ME TAKE YOU (TO THE LAND OF THE GONE)

Let me Take you (to the Land of the Gone)

I was born in Africa, under trees tall where leaves fall;

In their season, where rivers behold our souls…

In terrains of our heritage, under shadows;

Between yesterdays and today,

As I walk across dinteta, let me take you to the land;

Not too far but deeper into the wilderness, where our forefathers dwelt,

The land of imaginative kind; Matsaudi—our village;

Our pride, the pride of Africa’s silent wild, our lineage,

Where tongues know each other like winds of the grassland,

Let me take you there, where grandfathers told around a fireplace;

At evening shades like melodies of the wild…

Beneath our toes when rain shadows fall,

Where the great Ntema Saldiwara-a-Sinqaera dwelt;

Along the Tjaratjamba streams, further into Khoo!

Towards N’qarakaqae; the land of the owls,

As I dance to the songs of the gone;

Where great men and women sang their songs…

As the Inginga charmed their leqhuma rhythms;

To the infusion of seorooro,

As women attired in their mejamboro during their shembiro;

By the evening shadows,

Let me take you there;

Where cadences of the shivukuvuku echoed in fingers of the old,

Let me clap my hands old like untold stories of the drumbeat;

As I beat the intunguru altos and sopranos of the ingwama bass line,

Let me take you there, towards the ndoba along Santandadibe River;

To the nature calls of N’guldingani and Namoqhombora,

As tribes canoed and sledged across rivers in their o’to…

Into the thick bushes of N’xeepe;

Where ancient waYeyi buried their gone,

And reveal the mysterious tales of the forbidden jungle; Mazange fields;

Where traditions of witchcraft and superstitious norms behold,

As though our petition to the induna and rainmakers gone;

But times of yesterdays…

Let me walk with you between seekers of souls;

Of many men within, where bush doctors their herbs healed our sores,

From the roots and leaves of trees only known by them,

As orature told us of the great Zukura wafu; the magical one,

The great magicians whose magic was super powerful for one to rise from the dead,

Let me crawl with you there, between twigs and papyrus reeds green;

To the land of the river people; watsharaa! Watshapi!

Our forefathers who built dinteta and indoba as bridges across rivers;

For their crops would yield when winter days neared,

The great fishermen deep in their toes as women cultured their sinqwaa;

Deeper into waters of silent rivers,

As taboos behold in communities of the gone;

Their norms and customs, as herd boys faced each other as they play n’xabi,

And rattled like Mfecane wars, shackled like peasants’ vows in history,

But walked taller without fear of a lion’s face,

Yeme ndi mutsharaa! Ndati xwatisa nishozi paapeshi,

For the day is yet to come, for our eyes’ shine;

Like echoes of the wilderness before dawn…

I yearn to sing songs of the gone;

And tell their folktales like a shining star…

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Onalethuso Petruss Buyile Ntema

The Voice of a Shadow, 2016

WATCH 'NI SIYE' snippet: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gvPHs4brV5o&feature=youtu.be

Sacred Days

Sacred Days - part I

Yesterday is the day gone, 
And tomorrow is yet to come; 
For today is the day known.
As days have the passage of time they fade, 
But memories kept within our hearts paint; 
A story enough for us to tell, 
Days have the passage of time they fade, 
And prevail to be laid to rest as they shine, 
They guide their shadow to the night; 
Between today and ages more, they shine…
They shine like stars between dark clouds, they shine, 
As miles walk their distance when time; 
For their end commit their kind…
To be dark or shine, 
They smile; 
Beneath their shades, they fade, 
They paint; 
A memory of their time, 
In tongues of spoken words between each line, 
Our purpose is to live and die; 
When the time…
Comes than try; 
Deceive and defeat our purpose, and the mind…
Listens to what the heart says and does like; 
Patterns of colourful wings of a rainbow shadow, 
And behold their eyes; 
Beyond dark clouds and stars bright, 
To live is to behold the gift of creation, 
To speak is to unfold the journey of our thoughts; 
For our thoughts to unfold in (un) told phrases, 
To seek is to find our own path in real and consciousness, 
To discover. To sow seeds to our souls, 
To be inspired. To write. To inspire, 
To empower. To reason. To die...

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©Onalethuso Petruss Buyile Ntema, 2016 
Book: THE VOICE OF A SHADOW

http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/sacred-days-part-i/

Lens through 'The Voice of a Shadow' poetry anthology - 2016: Preview

Maun born, Onalethuso Petruss Buyile Ntema has revealed plans to publish a second poetry collection entitled 'The Voice of a Shadow: Life, Reality and Mental inspiration poetry' late 2016 and a Setswana anthology 'POKO-PUO'.

The author of SOUL SEEDS: Reality and Mental inspiration poetry, published in  early 2014 by Xlibris Publishng (United Kingdom), a #CreativeTourism entrepreneur, a Creative writer, Spoken wordist and Folk-Reggae musician  indicated that 'the second book is a special package to the reader; the navigator of mind and thought' in that it reflects on daily life situations, nature and wildlife inspiration, socio-economics and politics (power, hegemony and social inequities) and social stratification (elitism vs totalitarianism, social class and poverty crime and deviance), social transformation (micro and macro societal analysis and social commentary), social concepts (love and life, pain and death) and cultural regard. 

                                                                Mambo Ntema as he is known, hinted that 'the third, which is a Setswana poetry collection of 50 poems (folklore inspired) tallies in historical and folk heritage to promote the Botswana cultural diversity especially that of the Bayei, BaHambukushu, BaSubiya (veIkuhane), BaSarwa (!Nxanikhwee) and the greater Botswana communities. Stories of the old are told in spoken but poetic kind...'

Preface

"In the first anthology SOUL SEEDS: Reality and Mental Inspiration poetry (2014), we were exploring the self from traditions of thought, emotions, culture, life and death. In this extended dialogue of thought, (the mind and emotions) the social structural components, and reality, the subject of concern is the “self and the shadow (beyond shadows)”. The anthology has gathered scattered thoughts (through a social control model that blend its principles) on social action. However, in this edition of inspirational poetry pieces, The Shadow, Beyond Shadows: Life, Reality and Mental Inspiration poetry”, the writer seeks to walk further a journey into patterns of life and its diversity in mental reasoning and reality..." he said. A special dedication to his daughter (Deczybelle Daisy Shiloh), mother Ndaruka Ntema, late brother Modisa Ntema and late mentor Anthony John Berry (UK).

                         The book is a creative thought that crawls wisely, to promote the culture of the reading few but masses (in context to its content and matter), the different models of micro (and macro) Sociological thought relative to daily life between interactants and (their) situations. Questions as rhetoric and complex have been asked in loudest and silent voices, to which circumstances as ideal become real and likewise.  How would you tell, or do, if today were your last moment on earth? What would you do before gone? Will you fear? Do you fear? Why been you cry tears without smile? Are you lonely? Are you rejected? Do you ever listen to your heart?

                             Imaginatively, conditions prevail when life hardens before us, but realistically not. Instantly, life is like a misty morning that fades away when the sun shines. And particularly, we are bound to live and gone, yet psychological spiritualities may differ in traditions of (their) spoken words.  Cultures inter-marry into one universal love, that umbrellas nations of the Most High. And have shadowed in trans-dynamic faces over time, with thoughts, expressions and questions (of and for, or between the self and the inner self) as thus:

Do you know who and what you are? What word do I and you utter to our ears deaf? What worth does it matter our fears dead? Which school need we serve better before dead? What would you say before gone? Will you tear? Who does care and bother? Do you know why you live? Would you give? Are you humbly lonely? Are you? Are you calmly (or frowned at when) rejected? Do you ever listen to your heart and soul? Does the music strings better deeper— in your heart than vessels of your oneBlood? Do you envy the other? Who is the chained soul between us? Or you are [an] opposite of the other?

                                                                                It has been a dozen life circumstances of adversaries that befriended ours, tragedies of countless harm and hopelessness, cages of mental slavery and loss, rages of jealousy, and memories of the past. Adventures of life have taught us to become a significant self without fear to many a challenge:

        

Let love reign for us to become as one. Let love to innocent faces. Cherish their kindness, and their joy. Let love within your heart. Let love lead us through. And stay in love as a people; be at peace as a person tomorrow, today and the day before.

                                                                                           This is another journey that journeys to spoken wordsmiths and readers of poetic expressions of reason and inspiration to find and seek what you seek to find! Lead your eye to a memory; lead your foot to a journey beyond the shadows!

Why this book and its audience?

The Shadow (Beyond Shadows): Life, Reality and Mental inspiration poetry is a “soul searcher of the inner person” that seeks to find comfort in readers of motivational and inspiring poetry pieces. It takes the reader to the journey of life and reality, a long walk to the inner self inspiration and interpersonal strength. It explores such issues as self autonomy, tolerance and peaceful thought, nature and its abundant wilderness, culture and its transformative diversity, team work and togetherness, and spiritual freedom (when and as) time reveals the (un)expected. The soul that delights the eye and talks to their silent other.

Life is a shadow— beyond which we are shadows of life,

And each shadow knows its follow; when lions roar like mountain climbers—

Our voices echo in silent voices loud— but our passion has dozen more as life,

We are the seed that soils in scattered but gathered arms of dozen smiles,

Why don’t we become seekers of truth to overstand[1] the sign of the times?

The book is at 230 pages long, with more than 200 poems and a few quotes. The author intends a 250-300 pages poetry collection by the time of publication late 2016. The experience gathered through the publishing process in 2014 has firmed the author's investment models to further his wings beyond the physical borders to reach the world in its four corners in a circle, in an attempt to increase the product mobility and sales. Ntema is yet to identify a publisher for the compilation. The book features collaboration pieces with creative writers from Botswana (Juby Peacock, Ophadile Mmakgosi Tau, Nametso D. Phonchi, Nobert Mathumo, Lucky Bulayani, Mpho Leteng, Moemedi Tebogo, Yolanda Nkonjera, Khonzani Nhlalo Zambwe), South Africa (Pearl Sanelisiwe G. Ndlovu), Zimbabwe (Donald Munyaradzi Kuutsi, Monica Munashe Rupazo, Simbarashe Mudukuti), and Zambia, Namibia, Ghana, Burundi, Senegal, Sudan, Nigeria, Kenya, Australia, Italy, USA, Malaysia, Germany, China, Japan etc collaborations on-going.

Book cover: POKO-PUO: Tswana Same, 2016

Book cover: The VOICE of a SHADOW, 2016

Credit to the Wordsmiths:

Lucky M. Bulayani – Botswana

Nobert J-Nathan Mathumo – Botswana

Mmakgosi Ophadile Anita Tau – Botswana

Thabo Prince Katlholo – Botswana

Moemedi Tebogo – Botswana

Bojosi Ditshwele – Botswana

Pearl Sanelisiwe Ndlovu – Republic of South Africa

Yolanda Nkonjera – Botswana

Khonzani Nhlalo Zambwe – Botswana

Jennifer Legotlwane – Botswana

Donald Munyaradzi Kuutsi – Zimbabwe

Dzikamayi Chando – Zimbabwe

Juby Peacock – Botswana

Angelina Anthea Bong – Malaysia

Priskath October Katholo – Botswana

Ponatshegelo Katholo – Botswana

Legodile Seganabeng – Botswana

Nametso Dorothy Ponchi – Botswana

Mpho Leteng – Botswana

Obusitswe Eric Motswasele – Botswana

Saidi Mdala - Botswana

Credits:

Martina Postelt – Germany

Alejandra Wolf – Spain

Theresa Govert – USA

Etsuko Nagayama - Japan

Graphics and Documentation

Usch Pilz – Translator, Photographer, Germany

Kedirebofe Mosadi Pelontle – Journalist (Reporter), Botswana

Keitebe Kgosikebatho – Journalist (Reporter), Botswana

Nobert Mathumo – Dysis Photography, Botswana

Tumelo Prince Mokongwa – Ishyn Gates Graphics Media & Arts, Botswana

Masule Kachana – DeBoo Graphics, Botswana

Gaamangwe Joy Mogami – Afro-Artivism 

Thabo Katlholo - The Black Apostle, author/novelist, Princeville

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[1] More than under-standing. An ability to determine between two equations of life; reaching that ‘level of the mental complex-one’ concept.

#SOUL SEEDS feedback

"Soul Seeds momento,me reading my favorite poem 'CAN I BE WITH YOU, O' LOVE?" - Yusrah T Gareegope

Thanks a dozen more dear reader, you the navigator of mind... - OPB Mambo Ntema, 2015