African Superstitions - A Poem
Image sourced from Pixabay
When you walk on the road,
And dash your right foot against a stone,
You must return home,
For misfortune awaits you.
When you walk in the forest,
Be careful not to whistle,
For, who knows, you might be inviting a snake.
When you get pregnant,
And your belly begins to protrude,
You must not forget to clip a safety pin to your gown,
That should prevent evil spirits
from possessing your unborn child.
Listen!
You must not call salt by its name at night
For your life may lost its sweet savour.
When it rains lightly,
While the sun is shinning brightly in the sky,
Know that a pregnant lion is in labour
Somewhere in the forest.
When your day turns out miserable,
Know that either the first person you met in the morning
Has bad luck
Or the soap you used while having your bath
Has infected you with bad luck.
When you pluck the pus in a dog's eyes,
And fix it to your own eyes,
Your inner eyes will open,
And you will see thousands of spirits,
Some of them walking upsidedown.
If your loved ones die,
You must shave the hairs on your head,
For hairs are the currency spent in afterlife
And it is unfair to make the dead go broke.
Before you drink your glass of wine,
Make sure you drop some on the floor,
To quench the thirsty throats of your ancestors.
Listen my children!
These are our customs and traditions.
Do not question them,
Lest the gods strike you dead!
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Very nice, the traditions are not to be messed with :)
Hahaha yes Clause. Man is a creature of traditions. We hold beliefs, sometimes regardless of rationality. That is what I intended to portray in this poem.
Thanks for all the upvotes - grateful.
True that :) Of course, you do great work, wish I had some more steem power :P
Thanks Clause. I look forward to you becoming a whale.
This reminds me of what the teacher in my Thai language class told us the other day. If kids go walking in the mountains / forests, they do NOT call each other by their names.
The reason is that they fear that the evil spirits will hear their names, and then the spirits will use those names to wreak havoc in the kids's lives.
That really fits into the scenario I was trying to paint in this poem. Superstitions can be found in most cultures of the world. I am happy that you've also come across these kind of sayings.
Anyway, I think westernization has eroded many of these beliefs. Surprisingly, many people I know still hold on to them.