The readiness is all. ----HAMLET

To go or not to to go

that was the question

the question

as pregnant as

as  fraught as

to be or not to be that is

the question

I called a friend in Toronto

who really fancies himself

to be

a leader of the Toronto Somali community

who really flatters himself 

to be

the go-to man on everything Somali:

---Don't come! 

Don't grace with your august presence 

this Darod shindig

this Darod shetan shindy

to celebrate how Darod outsmarted us Hawiye

to celebrate how Darod outshone us Hawiye 

by supping with the devil

by resorting to Tigrian tanks

by resorting to Yankee terror planes

by playing the al-Qaida card

now as effective as 

that old commie card

every tinhorn tyrant used to play 

If you do come

If you do join them

you will be celebrating 

how the Darod emasculated us Hawiye

how Yay finally won his heart’s desire

how Yay  triumphantly took over Villa Somalia 

Togane, I beg you not to come

Trust me

I know what I am talking about 

I have my finger right

on the pulse of the Toronto Somali community

After listening to diverse opinions of my elders & betters 

I decided to accompany my friend

Maroyare

who drove all the way from Toronto 

to fetch me 

to take me 

to the victory party

to celebrate the Apotheosis of Yay at Villa Somalia 

to celebrate the Glory Ghedi wrought in Mog

to celebrate the Grandeur of Somalissimo.

---Maroyare, at the celebration tonight

what do you think I should say?

---Togane, tonight we Somalis need to hear from you

a message of hope

a message of healing

a message of peace

a message of reconciliation

a message of how we can build each other up

a message of how we can bear one another's burden

a message of how we can fulfill the law of Love

who is Allah

a message of

how we can bury the hatchet

how we can resurrect the Somali nation

a message of 

The Lord is our Shepherd we shall not want

The Lord is our strength

The Lord is our redemption song

The Lord is our dwelling place

a message of 

For his anger endureth but a moment 

in his favour is life

weeping may endure for a night

but joy cometh in the morning

a message of Joy in 

THIS GREAT GETTIN' UP MORNING

a message of 

I call heaven & earth to record this day against you 

that I have set before you 

life & death

blessing & cursing: 

therefore choose life 

that both you & your seed may live

Togane

I pray to Almighty Allah

that he will endow you tonight & forever 

with the tongue of the wise

that brings hope healing health

For tonight Togane & forever

You've got to accentuate the positive

Eliminate the negative

And latch on to the affirmative

Don't mess with Mister In-Between

You've got to spread joy up to the maximum

Bring gloom down to the minimum

Have faith or pandemonium's

Liable to walk again upon the Somali scene

You got to ac  (yes, yes)   -cent-tchu-ate the positive

Eliminate (yes, yes) the negative

And latch (yes, yes) on to the affirmative

Don't mess with Mister In-Between

No, don't mess with Mister In-Between

Togane!

Do deliver tonight an uplifting message

We been down so long it looks like up to us!

So please lift us up tonight!

don't you see all Somalis  are pinin'

we got tears all in our eyes

tonight Togane

Why don't you send down that cloud

With the silver linin'

Lift us up to paradise

Show us that healing river

that your Mennonite friends sing about

Why don't you take us across

And wash all our troubles away

Tonight  Togane

the readiness is all

we Somalis are finally ripe to heal each other

we Somalis are finally ready to forgive each other

we Somalis are finally ready to

Lift ev'ry voice and sing

Till earth and heaven ring

Ring with the harmonies of Liberty

Let our rejoicing rise

High as the list'ning skies

Let it resound loud as the rolling sea

Sing a song full of the faith that the dark past has taught us

Sing a song full of the hope that the present has brought us

Facing the rising sun of our new day begun

Let us march on till victory is won

Stony the road we trod

Bitter the chast'ning rod

Felt in the days when hope unborn had died

Yet with a steady beat

Have not our weary feet

Come to the place for which our fathers sighed?

We have come over a way that with tears has been watered

We have come, treading our path through the blood of the slaughtered

Out from the gloomy past

Till now we stand at last

Where the white gleam of our bright star is cast

God of our weary years

God of our silent tears

Thou who hast brought us thus far on the way

Thou who hast by Thy might

Led us into the light

Keep us forever in the path, we pray

Lest our feet stray from the places, our God, where we met Thee

Lest our hearts, drunk with the wine of the world, we forget Thee

Shadowed beneath Thy hand

May we forever stand

True to our God

True to our native land.

----At the party I did not deliver

any of the four different speeches

that I had pondered

that I had prepared

I recognized faces from every Somali clan

A sight that set me afire with faith in our future! 

I let the Spirit of the Lord lead me

I let my tongue steal the hope

that I have been harboring in my heart

I let my tongue steal out of the abundance of my heart

I let my tongue steal out of the fire in my big belly!

I let the mood of the audience determine 

The making of my message

the marrow of my message

the meaning of my message

the measure of my message

I let the context concoct the text of my talk

I let my soul soar

with the buoyant soul of my Somali sisters & brothers

I let my spirit jump & jubilate

with the jubilant spirit of my eager listeners

I began by beginning 

In the beginning was 

the word

and the word was 

The Mother of the Book

The Mother of the Qur'an

Al-Fatiha

The Exordium

In the name of Allah

that makes us not ashamed 

The warp & the woof of rest of my words

weaved in & out of the Mother of the Book

My coda was

the ringing

the rousing

the rallying

 

Hope

 

the true hope

that is swift

that flies with swallow's wings

that makes Kings gods & meaner creatures kings!

 

Hope

that springs eternal

that beats eternal

in the heart of every Somali patriot:

 

This year in Mogadishu!

 

NOTES