Question4 Poetry: Selection from Namibian poems
(25 marks)
Analyse Hendrik Witbooi’s poem below by paying special attention to the themes and its
meaning.
(400 words
(Nama traditional)
Serpent in the grass: Nanseb
short-boned one: great eye:
guardian of the people and the land:
keen eye who discovers conspirators
Ssharp ear that hears where there is no sound:
deft one who caught the flies
that came over the water to sting us,
and who made those invader flies groan
The eye sees you as slow-paced
10fast-thinking one:
abundant teat whose milk flows without stopping:
protector of orphans:
waterhole and shade-tree for the homeless:
short-boned one: stump finger: deep-rooted shrub:
terror of conquerors-
rifle in your stump finger
on the back of the short-ear-
terror of the aggressor-
short-ear obeying stump finger:
20supreme among all in Khowese history:
round shoe whose tracks are all over:
stump-finger: short-boned one:
master of rifle and short-ear:
Nanseb, great father, deep-rooted shrub
LINE14. Stump finger: Witbooi had lost his right thumb in battle.
L/NE 17. Short-ear, horse