The God of War
Yoruba Tribe
He kills on the right and destroy on the left.
He kills on the left and destroys on the right.
He kills suddenly in the house and suddenly in the field.
He kills the child with the iron with which it plays.
He kills in silence.
He kills the thief and the owner of the stolen goods.
He kills the owner of the slave – and the slave runs away.
He kills the owner of the house – and paints the hearth of his blood.
He is the needle that pricks at both ends.
He has water but he washes with blood.
The Sorrow of Kodio
Baule Tribe
We were three women
Three men
And myself, Kodio Ango.
We were on our way to work in the city
And I lost my wife Nanama on the way.
I alone have lost my wife
To me alone such misery has happened,
To me alone, Kodio, the most handsome of the three men,
Such misery has happened.
In vain I call for my wife,
She died on the way like a chicken running.
How shall I tell her mother?
How shall I tell to her, I Kodio,
When it is so hard to hold back my own pain.
Death
Kuba Tribe
There is no needle without piercing point.
There is no razor without trenchant blade.
Death comes to us in many forms.
With our feet we walk the goat’s earth.
With our hands we touch God’s sky.
Some future day in the heat of noon,
I shall be carried shoulder high
Through the village of the dead.
When I die, don’t bury me under the forest trees,
I fear their thorns.
When I die, don’t bury me under forest trees.
I fear the dripping water.
Bury me under the great shade trees in the market,
I want to hear drums beating
I want to feel the dancer’s feet.
Introduction
Ideas about what constitutes death vary with different cultures and in different epochs. In Western societies, death has traditionally been seen as the departure of the soul from the body. In this tradition, the essence of being human is independent of physical properties. Because the soul has no corporeal manifestation, its departure cannot be seen or otherwise objectively determined; hence, in this tradition, the cessation of breathing has been taken as the sign of death (Frederick, 2009). In tribal Africa, death is neither the end of life nor the gateway to immortality. It is rather a stepping stone between generations, a link with one’s ancestors and one’s descendants (Nolen, 1972). The living and the dead are in continuous contact and a large part of the religious life of the African is devoted to establishing a harmonious contact with dead (Bier, 1988). Death and dying has always been an interesting issue to understand and interpret. Each person has his or her own view of death and attitude towards it. However, the society as the main influencer has a huge impact on people’s perception of death. The attitudes of the society towards death have been changing over the time. Fear has always been one of the most common attitudes towards death. However, today’s society has developed many other attitudes.
Discussion of the Theme
The images of death in Africa bring sorrow and pain as Africans struggle in turbulence.
In the three poems, The God of War – Yoruba Tribe, The Sorrow of Kodio – Baule Tribe and Death – Kuba Tribe, are conveying images death as theme. The three tells about the how Africans die; what is the impact of death to the people; and how they determine their situation when they are dead.
The first poem, The God of War, is a poem written by an anonymous author of the Yoruba Tribe - numbering over 12 million, are the largest nation in Africa with an art-producing tradition. The poem discusses the war as a prime agent that causes death to many Africans as seen in this citation, He kills on the right and destroy on the left. He kills on the left and destroys on the right. There are many wars that happened in Africa that cause severe damage and dreadful death to its people. One of these war is the Boer War[1], conflict in southern Africa between Britain and the allied, Afrikaner-populated Transvaal[2] and Orange Free State, in what is now South Africa; also known as the South African War (Encarta, 2008). Africa’s wars in the 1990s were all very different in their specifics. But they shared a number of important characteristics. First, one of the main underlying causes of these wars was the weakness, the corruption, the high level of militarization, and in some cases the complete collapse, of the states involved. Secondly, they all involved multiple belligerents fighting for a multiplicity of often shifting economic and political motivations. Thirdly, they all had serious regional dimensions and regional implications. And fourthly they were all remarkable for the brutality of the tactics (ranging from mass murder and ethnic cleansing, to amputation, starvation, forced labour, rape and cannibalism) used by belligerents to secure their strategic objectives (Porteous, 2004). War has been one of the reasons of turmoil and chaos on a land as observed in these citation, He is the needle that pricks at both ends. He has water but he washes with blood. Death comes to the people wherein a war happens like in Africa. In the poem, it is specifically said that there is a god of war. War, in the poem, was personified as a man who can ruin and give extreme devastation to his fellow man and country.
The second poem is The Sorrow of Kodio. It is written by anonymous tribesman belonging to the Baule clan - is one of the largest ethnic group in the Côte d'Ivoire[3]. Readers can particularly say that the setting of this poem is, perhaps, in the duration of a war. The persona evokes the feeling of sorrow as he is travelling with his wife and other tribesmen when an unfortunate event happened – his wife was being killed on the way to their destination as it is cited on this line, We were on our way to work in the city. And I lost my wife Nanama on the way. Thus, persona is grieving to her dead wife - Such misery has happened. In vain I call for my wife, She died on the way like a chicken running. Same as the first poem, this poem depicts an image of death cause by riots and unrest in Africa. The poem also conveys grievances of the mourners.
In the third poem, Death by an anonymous Kuba tribesman is about the image of death of someone who is waiting for death to come. Kuba tribesmen live in the area of central DRC[4] bordered by the Sankuru, Kasai, and Lulua rivers. As noticed in this citation, With our feet we walk the goat’s earth. With our hands we touch God’s sky. Some future day in the heat of noon, I shall be carried shoulder high Through the village of the dead, the persona unleashes the idea of people living in earth, praising God and in the end will die and be dead. This comes to a conclusion that the persona is waiting for the time of his death. He also stated how he wants his burial to be here in this citation, When I die, don’t bury me under the forest trees, I fear their thorns. When I die, don’t bury me under forest trees. I fear the dripping water. Bury me under the great shade trees in the market, I want to hear drums beating I want to feel the dancer’s feet. The persona indicates specifications of his burial like he wants to be buried under the great shade trees in the market, to hear beating drums and to feel the dancer’s feet. In short, even he has a life full of misery on earth, he wants to die happily. At least in heaven the persona can feel tranquillity and happiness.
Conclusion
To wrap up, the three poems convey the different images of death in Africa. The images of death in Africa are practically haphazard and harsh due to the poverty-stricken lives of Africans, misleading issues of politics that all leads to war and chaos and the illnesses such as AIDS[5]. The people in Africa believe that death, although a dreaded event, is perceived as the beginning of a person's deeper relationship with all of creation, the complementing of life and the beginning of the communication between the visible and the invisible worlds. The goal of life is to become an ancestor after death (Mbiti, 1969). These beliefs somehow counterparts all the hardships the Africans who have died felt when they were still living. Hence, the images of death in Africa are all crucial and it is their ticket to a happy and contented soul.
Works Cited
Bier, U. (1988). Black Orpheus. African Poetry: Death .
Encarta, M. (2008). Boer War. Redwood, WA, USA.
Frederick, C. J. (2009). Death and Dying. Redwood, WA: Microsoft Encarta.
Mbiti, J. S. (1969). African Religions and Philosophy. London: Heinemann.
Nolen, B. (1972). Africa is Thunder and Wonder. New York: Scribner.
Porteous, T. (2004, October). Resolving African Conflicts. Wars in Africa: The Magazine .
[1]This happened on 1899-1902.
[2] South African Republic
[3] Ivory Coast
[4] Democratic Republic of Congo
[5] Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome – a disease of the immune system caused by infection with the retrovirus HIV, which destroys some types of white blood cells and is transmitted through blood and or bodily secretion such as semen.
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