February 1, 2024

Counsel to a Bridegroom

Bala Saho

^{translated from the Mandinka by Bala Saho}

Nderi oh. Nderi Kumba Mbayi!
I am afraid of a fight between co-wives,
Nderi oh. Nderi Kumba Mbayi!
I am afraid of a fight between co-wives,
Kumba Mbayi.
You can harvest the bitter tomato,
But do not uproot it.
If you insult her, do not touch her parents,
If you insult her, do not touch her roots.

Maañoo kee la Yaamaroo

Nderi oo Nderi Kumba Mbayi!
Nmaŋ hañi sinaayaa keloo le ñaa
Nderi oo, Nderi Kumba Mbayi!
Maŋ hañi sinayaa keloo le ñaa,
Kumba Mbayi.
Jaato kati,
Kanaa a suloo wuri
Niŋ I be a neŋ na, kanaa a kooma ma,
Niŋ I be a neŋ na, kanaa a suloo ma.

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“‘Counsel to a Bridegroom’ is a traditional Mandinka folk poem
that has been passed down through many generations, going back at least one hundred years. As an archivist and researcher, Dr. Bala Saho has collected poems, songs, folklore, and proverbs from the Mandinka people of The Gambia, West Africa, his ancestral homeland.”
—Honorée Fanonne Jeffers

Bala Saho is an archivist and historian. He is the author of Contours of Change: Muslim Courts, Women, and Islamic Society in Colonial Bathurst, the Gambia, 1905–1965 (Michigan State University Press, 2018). His research is based on the development of social and cultural institutions, communities, and individuals in Africa. Saho is an associate professor of history at the University of Oklahoma.

Contours of Change: Muslim Courts, Women, and Islamic Society in Colonial Bathurst, the Gambia, 1905–1965
(Michigan State University Press, 2018)

“Stones” by Michael Blumenthal
read more

“brief lesson on marriage” by
G. C. Waldrep
read more

Thanks to Honorée Fanonne Jeffers, author of The Age of Phillis (Wesleyan University Press, 2020), who curated Poem-a-Day for this month’s weekdays. Read or listen to a Q&A about Jeffers’s curatorial approach and find out more about our Guest Editors for the year.

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Poem-a-Day - "Counsel to a Bridegroom" by Bala Saho

Counsel to a Bridegroom

Maañoo kee la Yaamaroo

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