የሀገሬ ባሎች

እስኪ ሀገሬ …..ልግጠምልሽ
የኔ መግጠም….. ከጠቀመሽ፤
እንደ ባለቅኔ …. ባልገጥምልሽ እንኳን
እንደ’ክት ባሎችሽ …. ባልሆንልሽ እንኳን
ያልራሰውን መሬት…… በላቤ እንዳለማ
ባ’ጥር እየሾለኩ….. ልሁንሽ ውሽማ፤
እንጂ በርሽማ
የላይ የላዩማ
ላይገጥምሽ ተዘግቶ
ላይሆንሽ ተጣብቶ
ማንን አስገብቶ?
ቢሆንም ቢሆንም ….. ላግባሽ ባልልሽም
እስኪ ሀገሬ ልግጠምልሽ
የኔ መግጠም ከጠቀመሽ ፤
መች ይቀራል…. መግጠሜማ
ሰባስቤ ….የቃል ማማ
የህዝብ ግጥም…. የህዝብ ዜማ፤
ግና እኔ ደርሼ …..ቶሎ እስክገጥምልሽ
ሀረግ ጠማጥሜ ….ቤት እስክመታልሽ
ቀለበት አጥልቄ …. የሁሉ እስካደርግሽ
ሰምሽ እዜህ ማዶ….ወርቅሽ እዚህያ ማዶ
ህብረ-ቃልሽ ሁሉ…. ከባእድ ተሰዶ
የድስትሽ ክዳኑ…. ሳይገጥም ተንከርፍፎ
በኔ እገጥም ……በኔ እገጥም…. ገላሽ ብርድ አትርፎ
ወጥሽ እኮ አለቀ ….. ተጨልፎ ተጨልፎ ::

© Mihret Kebede
Audio production: Haus für Poesie, 2022

Husbands of My Dear Country

Let me have a polite conversation with my country

Let me write a poem to benefit my country,

even if I’m not able to write a poem for my country like the wise poets write,

even if I’m not the legal husband of my country or a leader

let me still water the dry land with planted sweat

let me slip in by the fence as a lover.

By the front by the top by the upper upper door

they closed the gate open but the gate never fits,

it never fitted you, probably it never properly

fit the bowl

either way either way…

I don’t want to ask you to marry… Instead, let me write you a poem

Let me fit a poem… to benefit my country.

My writing of poetry will never stop… my writing of poetry will never cease

collecting the hill of words,

The poetry of the people… is the melody of the people

until I grow vines I will… fit you with my poetry,

until I twist lines here I will… build a rhyming house here for you,

Because the lid doesn’t fit and the leaders don’t fit

and they always leave the door open,

and they always leave the lid of the pot open

so the raider can scoop things out and scoop things out and scoop things out…

Translated by Eric Ellingsen, Uljana Wolf and Jorga Mesfin