POETRY: CATTLE IN THE RAIN
Poetry: Cattle in the rain
Author: Musaemura Zimunya
1 Nothing has no end,
2 it is true. Nothing lasts forever → Even suffering will end (hope)
3 This rain used to soak us in the pastures pastures = land
4 and the cattle would not stop to graze, Heavy rain soaks the boy, cattle refuse to go to the kraal
Theme: Humans vs Nature
5 they would not be driven to the kraal,
6 it made me cry and curse sometimes He cries and swears → Emotional suffering c - alliteration
Wishes he was a girl (“born for the skirt”)
7 and I used to wish I was born for the skirt. Cultural reference / metonymy
Girls did not herd cattle
8 Just imagine penetrating the wet bush Penetrating means pushing through.
He walks bent over through wet bush
9 almost doubled up
Poor clothing = jute sack used as raincoat
10 with a heavy smelling coned up jute sack Jute is a kind of plant fibre used to make sacks.
11 as a rain coat,
Shows poverty + hardship "as" - similie
Metaphor: “pebbles of water” p - alliteration /
12 pebbles of water pounding on the head, pounding - personification
Rain feels painful like stones
13 very irritating, too.
14
Sometimes an angry wasp disturbed by the foregoing foregoing = above mentioned
cows
15 stabbed you on the cursing lips
A wasp causes a stampede line 15 = personification
Thorns hurt his numb feet A stampede is when cattle panic and then rush
16 and in the frantic stampede,
Danger + fear madly together.
17 wet thorns snapped at random in your benumbed feet. benumbed = no feeling
18 And the rain does not cease, Repetition: Rain and cattle do not stop
19 and the cows just go on. Suffering feels endless
20 Come to the kraal –
Ox named Gatooma refuses to move
21 This ox, called Gatooma,
Symbol of stubbornness
22 stands still before the rest,
Metaphor: “ghost of silent disapproval”
23 his ghost of silent disapproval shattering to your mind,
Boy feels judged and intimidated
Repetition: “listening, listening”
24 listening, listening to nothing at all,
The ox ignores him completely
He realises he needs help
25 and I knew then that I had to call for help.
Theme: Isolation vs Community
26 But people at home in warm huts People in warm huts cannot hear him
27 could hardly hear me through the maddening rain. He is alone
28 This ox, tail high, Cajole means persuade or ask nicely. The shepherd
Ox acts proudly and crashes through bush is trying to cajole the cattle to move in the right
29 at two sniffs and a cajole,
30 all meant to humiliate Boy feels humiliated and powerless direction, to graze (eat grass) and then go to the
1
Poetry: Cattle in the rain
Author: Musaemura Zimunya
1 Nothing has no end,
2 it is true. Nothing lasts forever → Even suffering will end (hope)
3 This rain used to soak us in the pastures pastures = land
4 and the cattle would not stop to graze, Heavy rain soaks the boy, cattle refuse to go to the kraal
Theme: Humans vs Nature
5 they would not be driven to the kraal,
6 it made me cry and curse sometimes He cries and swears → Emotional suffering c - alliteration
Wishes he was a girl (“born for the skirt”)
7 and I used to wish I was born for the skirt. Cultural reference / metonymy
Girls did not herd cattle
8 Just imagine penetrating the wet bush Penetrating means pushing through.
He walks bent over through wet bush
9 almost doubled up
Poor clothing = jute sack used as raincoat
10 with a heavy smelling coned up jute sack Jute is a kind of plant fibre used to make sacks.
11 as a rain coat,
Shows poverty + hardship "as" - similie
Metaphor: “pebbles of water” p - alliteration /
12 pebbles of water pounding on the head, pounding - personification
Rain feels painful like stones
13 very irritating, too.
14
Sometimes an angry wasp disturbed by the foregoing foregoing = above mentioned
cows
15 stabbed you on the cursing lips
A wasp causes a stampede line 15 = personification
Thorns hurt his numb feet A stampede is when cattle panic and then rush
16 and in the frantic stampede,
Danger + fear madly together.
17 wet thorns snapped at random in your benumbed feet. benumbed = no feeling
18 And the rain does not cease, Repetition: Rain and cattle do not stop
19 and the cows just go on. Suffering feels endless
20 Come to the kraal –
Ox named Gatooma refuses to move
21 This ox, called Gatooma,
Symbol of stubbornness
22 stands still before the rest,
Metaphor: “ghost of silent disapproval”
23 his ghost of silent disapproval shattering to your mind,
Boy feels judged and intimidated
Repetition: “listening, listening”
24 listening, listening to nothing at all,
The ox ignores him completely
He realises he needs help
25 and I knew then that I had to call for help.
Theme: Isolation vs Community
26 But people at home in warm huts People in warm huts cannot hear him
27 could hardly hear me through the maddening rain. He is alone
28 This ox, tail high, Cajole means persuade or ask nicely. The shepherd
Ox acts proudly and crashes through bush is trying to cajole the cattle to move in the right
29 at two sniffs and a cajole,
30 all meant to humiliate Boy feels humiliated and powerless direction, to graze (eat grass) and then go to the
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