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  • Diomède Niyonzima
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  • Ingo tubane
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Ingo tubane

Diomède Niyonzima

Ingo tubane mu mahoro
Duhane amahoro ntiduhane imihoro
Ingo tureke gupfa ubusa nk’abasazi
Dusangire naho tudasa
Dusangire uburaro n’uburamuko.

Nta kamaro ko kumarana
Ubwoko bwaremwe n’lmana
Ubwoko ntibwona kandi ntibwonona
Ntawukwiye kubuzira
Amazuru ntaturira amazu.

Ubwoko ntibugahone
Umututsi ntagatuzwe
Umuhutu ntagahunge
Umutwa ntagatwazwe umukazo
Ubwoko n’amashugwe asharije Uburundi.
Ihorere ntuhogore
Ntitwihore ntitworonka impore
Twiture kuri ba rutunga
Badutunge kandi badutunganirize.

Mbega ubwo bwoko butavura ubworo
Ubwoko uteri bwikoreko ngo wivune umusase
Ubona bukumariye iki?

Duhebe ubwoko
Turwanye ubworo, twijukire ubworozi
Tuzororanirwa
Duhebe umuryano tugarukire umubano
Duhebe gushihana twijukire amashure
Maze amacakubiri tuyace
Tuyace ku mazi
Ejo tuzoyaceko umugani.


Diomède Niyonzima

from Héritiers du Nouveau Monde: Il Te Ressemble (Bujumbura: SN, 2008)

translated by David Shook and Claude Nikondeha

Reproduced by kind permission of the translators.

Tags:

African poetry Burundi peace resilience tolerance

Translations of this Poem

Come and live with me

Come and live with me in peace
We’ll exchange peace instead of hatchets
Let’s stop bickering like madmen
And share in our differences
Share somewhere to sleep, a place to wake up

There is no benefit to murder
People are created by God
It’s not right to graze without permission, to screw things up
It’s not right to murder
Noses don’t burn houses

A people should never perish
Tutsis should never be repressed
Hutus should never be forced to flee
Twas should never be pushed around
People are the beautiful flowers of Burundi
Don’t despair, don’t give up
Revenge is pointless
Let’s seek advice from good listeners
To resolve our differences

What is the point of your contempt
If it won’t cure poverty
If it won’t fill your stomach?

Let’s forget tribes
Let’s fight poverty
Let’s till the land and tend our goats

We will find peace
Let’s quit fighting and live together
Stop gossiping to study
So we can stop division
Stop it at its source
Tomorrow we’ll share this as our story

About this poem

This poem, representing Burundi, is part of The Written World – our collaboration with BBC radio to broadcast a poem from every single nation competing in London 2012.

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