THE POEM BOOK

ORAL POETRY FROM THE SUDAN: Gentlemen grind their grain in the land of the Congo
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A POEM OF THE POLITICAL REFUGEE

"Gentlemen grind their grain in the land of the Congo" is a Dinka song from South Sudan and a poem of the political refugees who found themselves persecuted by the Sudanese Khartoum government. The poem describes the plight of refugees fleeing into Zaire in the 1960s from the war between the Khartoum government and the Anyanya nationalist movement in the south.

ORAL POETRY FROM THE SUDAN
Gentlemen grind their grain in the land of the Congo

Gentlemen grind their grain in the land of the Congo;
The Dongolawi, the Arab, has remained at home:
He has remained in our land.
We left our herds tethered in the cattle-camps,
And followed Deng Nhial.
Gentlemen beg in the land of the Congo;
The Dongolawi, the Arab, has remained at home.
We left our herds tethered in the cattle-camps,
And followed Deng Nhial.
When we reached the land of the Congo,
The Congo said, ‘Dinkas are matata!’
I turned and asked Ngar Maker,
‘What does matata mean?’
Ngor Maker answered,
‘He says we are bad.’
My heart became spoiled
In the land of the Congo, my heart was spoiled;
And I thought of Anger, the daughter of Wol Ayalbyor,
I wished I could find her to see her.

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TPB's notes: Compiled by Jack Mapanje and Landeg White, Oral Poetry from Africa (1984). Published by Longman.

Dongolawi: A people of Sudan whose name the Dinka use to refer to all Arabs.
Deng Nhial: One of the Dinka leaders.
Ngar Maker: The singer’s friend.
Anger: The singer’s betrothed.