Listen.
Is it the trembling of reeds
Or my tremulous thoughts
That ebb and flow with the incoming tide?
Look.
The sun glides behind the clouds
And I forge a trail ahead,
Or perhaps leave a path behind
Feel.
Ethereal emanations of the nyatiti
Ayub Ogada on a willing lyre
His voice soft with vulnerability
Know.
They predicted thunderstorms today
“kothbiro, kothbiro” he says
Speaking of the coming rain…
Understand.
“Auma, do you hear what I say
The rain is on it’s way
Return our cattle home”
And then again,
Ricocheting voices
From cattail to cattail in vain hope
the wayward wind would stop to listen.
Walking along the Marsh discovery trail, Richard DeKorte Park, NJ, listening to Ayub Ogada on the Nyatiti Lyre, singing a traditional Dholuo (the language of the Luo people of Western Kenya. ) composition, ‘Kothbiro’, which speaks about the coming rain.
