An Alphabetical Acrostic in a Northern Dialect of Swahili

Extract

The following poem was copied for me in 1912 by Muhammad bin Abubakar bin ‘Umar (Muhamadi Kijuma) of Lamu. The author was one ‘Umar bin Amin, a blind Sharif of Siu, said (in 1913) to have died “ about fifty or sixty years ago ”. This information was furnished by Ahmad bin Abubakar bin ‘Umar es-Siwi, of Mambrui, who added that ‘Umar recovered his sight on completing the poem ! His name, by a not uncommon practice, is spelt out in the final stanza. So far as the poem shows any linguistic peculiarities, these belong to the Lamu dialect, which differs considerably from the poet's native speech of Siu. This may be due to its passing through the hands of Lamu copyists, or, more probably to the deliberate adoption of what was considered to be a more literary form of language.

Whether or not the text has been corrupted here and there, I find some obscurities which I have been unable to translate. These I have left with a query, in the hope that some reader in East Africa may be able to elucidate them. Some allowance, moreover, has to be made for poetical licence, in view of the difficulties of this very artificial kind of composition.