Juliana (The Translation)

Come near, come round, My dear sisters My dear brothers. Come take a peek, and Have a glance Someone is claiming to be dead And she looks like Juliana! Here we are, straw on straw, clutching at each one in the dark, wondering if it’s true, and if it’s a fact which is the ugliest in this news. If what has been is what now is, Then darkness is here and may never leave. The pot is broken for the clan The house is shaken, its fires long dead. Hear the screaming tornado, The boastful roaring hurricane: at the workplace in the market, here by the hearth at home. Esi Boah Bediako Dwemoh Our beautiful singular Juliana It’s true we shall all die one day, Did you have to leave this soon? Dear All-consuming Mother Earth, Voracious, indiscriminate, Carnivorous cannibal, We wish this meat you would spit out, Offer us back our Juliana: Beautiful Winsome Joyous. Kind and thoughtful Mrs. Dwemoh Please listen, and listen good: If you dreamt You could skip town Sneak out of our lives And disappear, Happy you’d finished Your allotted tasks, Then Mighty Mama, think again. For us your task if not yet done. Trainer of trainers The teachers’ teacher We know why This noon in the tropics Schoolrooms are silent The children abandoned. The wisest counselor Accomplished crafter Sower of hope and joy and peace You cloaked us in love and habiliments. Good Mother Juliana Are you sure you want to leave? Come near, come round, My dear sisters My dear brothers. Come take a peek, and Have a glance Someone is claiming to be dead And she looks like Juliana!