Somalilandsun – Mark Natty of the African School eulogizes the itinerant holy Somali speaking men and in particular Mohamed Diriye Abdullahi a poem “For The One Who Walks Alone”
She is beaming: you can’t take the grin off her face. This woman, newly wrapped in constant elation. The village is buzzing with the news. For they feel her happiness, as they have known her depression. Her time has finally come.
She goes along,
Giving thanks to the Creator.
For the new bounce,
The energised step –
Replacing the trudge and drag.
For the one who walks alone,
With an old Koran in an ageing bag.
A chosen ram is made ready. The smell of celebration, goes dancing through the village, as the sauce is being prepared: the use of ginger, cardamon and cinnamon. To commemorate the prayer. The prayer she has uttered, for the last ten years. Her one and only supplication.
She goes along,
Giving thanks to the Creator.
For the lifted heart,
Raised from it’s doldrum –
From the dark and the flat.
For the one who walks alone,
Accompanied by his prayer mat.
People invite her to drink tea with them – to feel her glow. Leaves of neighbouring Kenya, of distant India: embellished by lemon and cloves. They know her joy, so they want to be within the zone of it’s emanation. Today, on the first day of the news.
She goes a along,
Giving thanks to the Creator.
For the brightened mind,
Long overshadowed –
Of light coming through the clot.
For the one who walks alone,
Partnered by his ablution pot.
Immersed in ecstasy, giving continuos gratitude, to he who sent the holy man; who in passing through, gave her a blessing of potential, a prayer of life. Lauded as a paragon of peace – an ambassador from the Most High. In the times of dispute, they seek him out. She praises the Creator and salutes his envoy, the wandering wadaad.
She goes along,
Giving thanks to the Creator.
For tumultous joy,
Her long poem of hope –
For the day that she’ll always remember.
For the one who walks alone,
On his crucial mission from Allah.
© Natty Mark Samuels, 2015. African School.
