Cycle by Mazisi Kunene

Part I

So many are asleep under the ground, 

When we dance at the festival 

Embracing the earth with our feet.

Maybe the place on which we stand 

Is where they also stood with their dreams. 

They dreamed until they were tired 

And handed us the tail with which we shall dance. 

Even the weeds emerge in their praise. 

Yesterday there were vast villages

 We too shall follow their path,

Our dust shall arise at the gathering place 

And the child will dancc alone on our grounds.

Part II

How many generations 

We dance over

When we are happy at the feast.

They scream from the outskirts,

Where we shall not reach with our feet. 

Our eyes break into the sea of the night 

When we arrive at the disputed field 

Where people fight for a resting place, 

Competing with the generations of antiquity. 

Their tried voices rise

Rising with their songs 

That will remain after the festival.