ዶ/ር ርእሶም ሃይለ - Dr. Reesom Haile

ካብ ግጥምታት ዶ/ር ርእሶም ሃይለ – Poems from the Eritrean poet Dr. Reesom Haile

      ደስታ

ኣብ ስደተይ ወሊደያ
ደስታ ጓለይ ዓደይ ወሲደያ
ምስ ዓባያ ኣፋሊጠያ።
እነውለ ህዝብኺ! እነውለ ኣዝማድኪ!
እነሆለ ዓድኺ ኢለያ!
ከቀባጥር በብዓይነቱ
ናይ ጾም ናይ ስዕረት ኣብሊዔያ
ከይትጠምየኒ ንጠዓሞታ
ሽንጦ ዂዕንቲ ወሲኸያ።
ኢላትኒ--------------ኣቦይ መዓረይ ፈትየዮ ኹሉ
እቲ ህድሞና መስኮት ግበረሉ።

Daughter, Desta, born in exile,
Come home for a first time.
Meet your grandmother
Her family, her neighbors —
Your family, your neighbors,
Your country, our home.
Please eat
These vegetables and meat
And a special treat of wild roots.
Or have I spoiled you?

No, Daddy, I love this.
But we need windows.
(English translation by Charles Cantalupo) 


ዓድና

እንተትዛረብ 
ብቛንቋ ትግርኛ ብቛንቋ ዓረብ
ብቛንቋ ኹሉ ምላሽ መረብ።
ምበለት ይመስለኒ
ንቀራረብ   
ሰብ ናብ ሰብ
ዝብኢ ናብ ገረብ።

Welcome
To our language.
Taste
the sauce
With spicy melted
Butter,
Berbere pepper
And sea salt.
The bones are big
Not only for the flavor.
Take them
Like communion.

(English translation by Charles Cantalupo)

ፍልጠት

ንሓመድ ድጒሪ የውጽኦ

ንፍልጠት ፍልጠት የምጽኦ።
ነቲ ዘይንፈልጦ ምስቲ ንፈልጦ
ኣረኣኢና ኣመሳሲልና
ፈሊጠዮ ሕጂስ
እዚ ኽስታይ ኽስታይ ይመስል
ንብል ተቐላጢፍና።
በዚ መሰረት--------------
እቲ ለሚን ብርቱዃን ይመስለና
ክሳብ ንጥዕሞ ክሳብ ዝመርረና።

First the earth, then the plow:
So knowledge comes out of knowledge.
We know, we don’t know.
We don’t know we know.
We know we don’t know.
We think
This looks like that —
This lemon, that orange —
Until we taste the bitter.

(English translation by Charles Cantalupo)


ማርቆስ – ለኒን

ማርቆስ – ለኒን
ተጋግዮም ኣጋግዮምና
እቲ ሳእንኹም እንተጸበበ
እግርኹም ጓዕምሙ ኢሎሙና
ብሱር ብታሕቲ ክጅምር ማዕርነትና።
ዘይጋገ የልቦን
ዘይእረም ጽልኡልና
ካብ ሰብ'ዶ ግብረ ሰብ ዓብዩና
እቲ ንሰርሖ ንፍንጥሖ ንሰርሖ እንደገና
ንዓና ከም ዝሓሸና
ንሰማማዕ ጥራይ ንሕና።

We learned from Marx and Lenin:
To be equal trim your feet
For one-size-fits-all shoes.
We made their mistakes, too.

Equally, we all make mistakes.
The evil is in not being corrected
Aren’t we known
By what we do, undo and do again?

(English translation by Charles Cantalupo)


ዝመጽእ ወለዶ

እቲ ዝመጽእ ወለዶ መጺኡ'ሎ
ተንስኡ ብዓጀብ ንቀበሎ!
ሃየ በቲ ዝርድኦ ዝፈልጦ
መርሓባ ብደሓን ምጻእ
ዌልካም! ቬልኮመን
ብየንቬኑ! በንቮኑቶ ንበሎ።
ሓቦ ንግበር ሓቦ
ማይ ኣውዒና እግሩ ንሕጸቦ
ነብልዓዮ፥ ነስትዮ፥ ነጽግቦ፥
ነማሙቆ፥ ጋቢ ንደርቦ
ነሰንዮ፥ ነኽብቦ
በቲ ሩባ በቲ ጎቦ
ምስ ዓበየ ክዓጅቦ።
ይመሃር፥ የጽንዓዮ! የንብቦ
እቲ ባህሊ እቲ ታሪኽ ዓደቦ።
ሓደራኻ ንበሎ ንላቦ
ሓደራኻ ኣሕሊፍካ ከይትህቦ
ንሓላፍ መንገዲ ንወደቦ።

Well traveled and knowing many languages,
The next generation arrives.
Let’s rise to the occasion.
Welcome, Vielkomen, Bien Venue, Ben Venuto!
Let’s bathe your tired feet with hot water
And serve the best injera, vegetables, meat and drink.
Take this warm, white gabi to wrap yourself in.
Let’s walk the mountains and valleys
Given to us, we give them to you —
History and culture to read,
A legacy to satisfy your needs
And to share, even with strangers —
On one condition:
Don’t give it all away.


injera — traditional bread
gabi — traditional blanket/cloak

(English translation by Charles Cantalupo)


ዶላር ብሰንኬሎ

ህዝብና ይወጽእ ኣሎ
ዶላር ያኢ ከምጽእ ብሰንኬሎ።
ዓዲ ዓረብ ኣሜሪካ
ዓዲ ጣልያን ዳኒማርካ
ዓዲ ጻዕዳ ካናዳ
ዓዲ እንግሊዝ ጀርመኒ
ኣውስትራልያ ዓዲ ጅኒ
ካብ'ዛ ዓዲ ጥራይ ኣውጽኡኒ ይብል ኣሎ።
ቪዛ ካብ ሓው ዝጽበ'ሎ
ቪዛ ካብ ሓብቱ ዝጽበ'ሎ
ቪዛ ብሎተርያ ዝበጽሖ'ሎ
ቪዛ ዝገዝእ'ሎ ካብ ደላሎ
ወርቂ'ዲኡ ሸይጡ ዝኽፈሎ።
ገሊኡስ ቀይሕ-ባሕሪ ዝወሓጦ'ሎ
ዶላር ያኢ ኸምጽእ ብሰንኬሎ።
እቲ መንግስቲ እንታይ ይበሎ፥
ኣቡኡ ኣዲኡ ኪድ እናበሎ
ኪድ ዝወደይ ይከኣሎ
እዚ ናብራና ኣቃልሎ
ጽባሕ ገዛ ምስራሕ ኣሎ
ጽባሕ መርዓ ደርዓ'ሎ
ንቐብሪ ንተዝካር ዝኽፈል ኣሎ
ኪድ ኣምጽእ ዶላር ብሰንኬሎ።

Show me the Money

Our people leave us
For fistfuls of dollars.
Arabia, America, Italy, Denmark --
Pots of money --
White Canada, England, Germany --
More pots of money.
The money trail leads all the way
To Australia: anywhere but home.
Who can blame them?
“Get me out of here. Get me a visa.
I'll call my brother. I'll call my sister.
I'll play the lottery. I'll pay the devil.”
Our people leave us.
Who can stop the Red Sea
From swallowing them?
The government?
“Pots of money, pots of money.”
It even resounds with our parents,
Adding their blessings and dreams
Of a better life for their children:
Fistfuls of dollars for weddings, new houses.
Big funerals and fitting memorials.
“Show us the oil, the gold,
The jobs and pots of money.”
Our people leave us.
They have to get in on the take.
They want to bring it home.
But how much more must they give? 

(English translation by Charles Cantalupo)