Shhh
Ba tlohela ba robale
Ba phahlolle diphate
ho fihlella mahlo a bona
a mela dithoko
Ha ba bokwe ke ditoro
Shhh
Kwenya modumo
Re hloka kgefutso
ho omisa meogo
ho hema kgotso
ho ana bophelo
Wena, MmaLefu le Moradi yao:
yena, Ngwetsi ya malapa
A ko botheng
Kopanyang dintshi
Isa masapo ho beng – nakwana
Re ke re phele sebakana
*Phomolo is a poem based on one of the Sesotho proverbs – maele – centred on death. This particular one is “Lefu ke ngwetsi ya malapa o hle” and can be directly translated as “Death is a bride to all families”. In this poem, one of the people who has gone through a series of deaths is asking everyone to hush and let Death and her mother sleep (stanza one). They, the people faced with death, need the time to heal too (stanza two). In the last stanza, Death and her mom are being addressed and asked to give people space and time to live by merely resting.