When I see the beauty on my beloved’s face - Okot p’Bitek

                            

When I see the beauty on my beloved’s face

When I see the beauty on my beloved’s face

When I see the beauty on my beloved’s face,

I throw away the food in my hand;

Oh, sister of the young ma, listen;

The beauty on my beloved’s face.

 

Her neck is long, when I see it

I cannot sleep one wink;

Oh, the daughter of my mother-in-law,

Her neck is like the shaft of a spear.

 

When I touch the tattoos on her back,

I die;

Oh, sister of the young man, listen;

The tattoos on my beloved’s back.

 

When I see the gap in my beloved’s teeth,

Her teeth are white like dry season simsim;

Oh, daughter of my father-in-law listen,

The gap in my beloved’s teeth.

 

The daughter of the bull confuses my head,

I have to marry her;

True, sister of the young ma, listen;

The suppleness of my beloved’s waist

       Okot p’Bitek

 

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