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THE SONG OF THE WOMEN OF MY LAND BY OUMAR FAROUK SESAY
Like a sculptor chipping away at bits of wood,
Time chisels away bits of their memory
It strips away lyrics of the song of the women of my land
Leaving only a fading tune echoing the song,
they sang in the forlorn fields
about their lives; songs
of how they ploughed the terrain of their mindscape;
for memories of lyrics lost in the vast void of time
in those days when a song beheld their lives;
when servitude cuffed the ankles of their soul,
and dereliction decapitated the epic of their lives.
With a song, they sponged off their anguish,
to behold their collective pain,
to celebrate their gains,
give lyrics to the tune of their lives,
cheat the tyranny of time,
and commune with the yet unborn
to give meaning to an epoch lost in antiquity,
Yet time strips the lyrics and scars the tune,
leaving a dying song
Dead!
Like the women who died long ago,
Leaving the song to tell the story of their lives
Today the tune roams the forlorn fields
Like their souls looking for lyrics
To tell the tale of the servitude
Of the women my land
Who ploughed their soil and soul
For a song to sing the story of their lives
The song of the women of my land
left in the memory of the wind.
Now feeding the verses of poets, it echoes in fields
Wriggling in rhythms and melodies,
Hollering in distant tunes
In places Far aField From the Forlorn Fields,
where the song of their lives died.
The stuttering lips of my pen
And the screeching voice of my nib
try to sing the song of the women of my land
In verses Far From the theatre of toil
where they left a Song that now roams the land
stripped of lyrics like a scorned ghost.
The tune tuning the tenor of my verse,
is all that remains of the song of the women of my land
Who labored and died leaving a dying song:
The dirge of their lives!
Summary
The poem illustrates the suffering of African during the era of slavery. The poet hopes that through the lines of the poem, the stories of the African women who found solace only in the song of their slavery will be protected. The poet feels dejected that the stories of the toils of these women are soon forgotten because no one cares to listen to their songs anymore. In order for the song not to die completely, that is why the poem is employed the lines of the verse to preserve the memory of the
The persona recounts the stories of the women as told in their songs. The women and their experience during the era of slavery are remembered through their songs. The experience or their memories are soon fading out with time. Only a remnant can be found roaming the fields. The poet says the memories are chopped away from the present generation like a sculptor chopping away at its bits of wood. The song is fading and will soon be forgotten unless there is a new way to preserve it from effect of time.
He gives a vivid description of the type of songs sung by these women during the slavery. As the women worked on their forlorn fields, they sang the songs of sorrow which reflects their mind and situations. They found solace in the songs which kept them through their unhappy situation. The songs paint the pictures of their lives. It is like the appearance of their mind. The lyrics of the songs give an illustration of their lives. The songs besides helping them through the difficult time, it also serves as a means of passing the memories of the women to generations yet to come.
The poet describes the servitude of the women as portrayed by the songs. The songs comforted and strengthened them to go through the tough phases of their lives. Even when it seems like their lives are falling apart, the songs held their lives together. The slavery might break them but the songs would always mend them.
The women used the songs to spit out their pains. They sang together of their pains and also embraced their gains through singing. The songs help to while away their time. The song may be sorrowful, but it helped to cleanse their heart and soothed their souls. They left the song to tell the generations to come what they went through as a result of slavery and tyranny. The new generation can give an epic account of the experience of the women through the lines of the poem. The poet laments that the beautiful songs will soon die off just like the women that sang it. The new generation has forgotten the stories as they no longer listen to the song of the women. The poet knows that if the songs die off, the generations to come will have no means to know about the toils of the women who endure servitude and poured out their anguish in songs.
The poet therefore decides to preserve the lines of the songs using the lines of the poem. The persona says that the tune of the songs roams the unhappy Fields as the souls of the women that sang them. Through the poem the persona hopes to revive the dead tune. He is using the lines of the poem to tell the story of the women who ploughed the soil and their soul. The songs were used by them to purge their emotions and let it in the winds to spread to generations to come.
With the songs in lines of poem, the persona believes that the song shall be echoed in the field, with beautiful rhythm and melodies. The echo will carry the songs far even from the field. The song might have sorrowful tones, the persona will write it in beautiful tones. Instead of mourning the women, the songs will celebrate their lives. Their memories will be preserved and will never be forgotten. The tune of the verse will serve to protect the strong women who labored and left behind songs of their stories. The poet concludes that the songs serves as the dirge of their lives.
Literary device
Form: The poem is a lyrical poem
Meter: The poem is a free verse
Points of view: The point of view shifts from third person to first person
Tone and Mood: the tone of the poem shifts from Lamentations, to consolations, bitterness to optimism
Rhyme Scheme: the poem is written in blank verse
Setting: The settings of the poem include a farmland or an open field during the time of slavery.
Imagery: Visual- women, fields, shackles, a poet
Auditory- songs, stories, tune, voices
Tactile- anguish, pain, grief, dyeing, hope
Enjambment: line 1-11, 12-21, 22-31, 32-36, 47-45
Figurative Expression:
personification- time, line41, 10, 11, 16, 19, song, 37-39
Simile- line 7, 22
Metaphor- 7, 13, theatre of toil
Paradox- line 17
Zeugma- line 28
Subject matter: the power of poetry to preserve memories
Themes:
Power of poetry to preserve memories
Theme of sorrow
Power of songs to preserve lives
Theme of slavery and wickedness
QUESTIONS
Discuss the roles of songs in the poem
How does the persona intend to keep the memories of the women
Comment on the women in the poem.
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