Song of Lawino and Song of Ocol - by Okot p'Bitek By Muniini K. Mulera My Kind of BooksJanuary 9, 20190 Back to Home Here on your left Are the grinding stones The big one Ashen and dusty And her daughter Sitting in her belly Are the destroyers of millet Mixed with cassava And sorghum. The mother stone Has a hollow stomach A strange woman She never gets pregnant And her daughter Never gets fatter She gets smaller and smaller Until she is finished. -Song of Lawino (1972) Lawino, an African woman laments the cultural loss of her husband Ocol. The latter, consumed by a new world, attempts to explain himself. Great African poetry, translated from the Acholi (Luo) language to English, a great gift to the wider world. Back to Home