Poetry International Poetry International
Poem

Mbuyiseni Oswald Mtshali

HIGH AND LOW

Glorious is this world
The world that sustains man
like a maggot in a carcass.

Mighty is the sea
de-salted by the carapace in the eye of the fish.

Hallowed is the star,
effulgent in the firmament,
a pearl in the stomach of the mussel sky.

Majestic soars the eagle, golden winged above the
low life.

Black is the hole of the poet,
A mole burrowing from no entrance to no exit.

PHEZULU NAPHANSI

PHEZULU NAPHANSI

Udunyisiwe lomhlaba
Umhlaba owondla umuntu
Njengesibungu esidunjini.

Lunamandla ulwandle
oluvovwe itswayi wuqhembu
esweni lenhlanzi.

Icwebile inkanyezi
egqamile emkhathini,
imbade esiswini sesibhakabhaka gebhezi.

Ngobukhosi ukhozi
lwenyuka ngamaphiko egolide
phezu kwempilo ephansi.

Umnyama umgodi wembongi,
Imvukuzane evukuza ingekho
intunja yokungena nentuba yokuphuma.
Close

HIGH AND LOW

Glorious is this world
The world that sustains man
like a maggot in a carcass.

Mighty is the sea
de-salted by the carapace in the eye of the fish.

Hallowed is the star,
effulgent in the firmament,
a pearl in the stomach of the mussel sky.

Majestic soars the eagle, golden winged above the
low life.

Black is the hole of the poet,
A mole burrowing from no entrance to no exit.

HIGH AND LOW

Glorious is this world
The world that sustains man
like a maggot in a carcass.

Mighty is the sea
de-salted by the carapace in the eye of the fish.

Hallowed is the star,
effulgent in the firmament,
a pearl in the stomach of the mussel sky.

Majestic soars the eagle, golden winged above the
low life.

Black is the hole of the poet,
A mole burrowing from no entrance to no exit.
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