Nobody Wants to Bend

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A tipi.
Friends don’t speak to each other for years because no one wants to bend on an issue. Both parties feel they are right, which is impossible. Ask nature. There’s dew in the morning and the sun comes up and dries it. Some rivers begin as a trickle down a mountain and end up as a waterfall.

Refusal to bend or compromise leads to brother not talking to sister, fights in sports, divorce or even war. Bend is goba in Zulu. It is also a common surname. Go-ba. You say the first part like got and the second like baba.

At the Olympics, runners in the 100 meters race bend at the start line, hands on the ground, then they burst out. Grandparents don’t walk straight. They bend a bit. Welders apply heat to bend steel.

Beautiful landscapes are breath taking because of bends, twist and turns. Politicians bend their demands all the time, for the interest of the party or in return for favors, like being an ambassador in a country with no snow.

ZULU

ENGLISH

Goba uma ungena tipi.

You bend when entering a tipi.

Goba uma ungena indlu yesi-Zulu.

You bend when entering a Zulu hut.

Goba uma ubingelela inkosi.

Bend when you greet the king.

Ubaba ugoba insimbi ngomlilo.

Father bends steel with fire.

Lomuthi usemanzi uzogoba kalula.

This branch is still wet. It will be easy to bend.

Umuthi ugotshwa usemanzi.

You teach a child when it’s still young, pliant.

Goba ngikwenze izinwele.

Bend let me do your hair.

By: Nonqaba waka Msimang.

 

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