Isaiah Shembe, "I am the beginning"

[the_grynne]

I became fascinated by the oral traditions of poetry and storytelling in my last couple of years of high school. While my friend so_spiffed was writing a ballad for our extension English course, I was researching Arabic poetry duels, Persian "aushek" (bards), the rituals that accompanied a storytelling session, and other details that turned out to be of little help when it came to actually getting a story written. *ahem* The poem by Shembe is something I came upon in the course of that research.

I'm also excited to see that The Spoken Word Redux (the follow-up volume to The Spoken Word Revolution: Slam, Hip Hop & The Poetry Of A New Generation) is now available in Australia. Bookslut looks at the anthology.

I AM THE BEGINNING

My Nkosi you loved me
Before the mountains were strong
From long ago you anointed me
I am the beginning of your way.

I am your work of old,
Before the large stretches of land were strong;
And the fountains of water
They have not yet sprouted strongly.

And the fountains and rivers
Before they had flowed strongly
Jehovah created me
Before His way.

The depth was not yet there
I was already born,
He had not yet created this heaven
And also this earth.

The sun had not shone yet
In the space of this heaven.
And the moon had not yet shone
In the space of this earth.

ISAIAH SHEMBE
Founder of the Nazareth Baptist Church