Balabala, A Medley Of Language And Color Poem by Kimberly Burnham

In the African language isiZulu
"Balabala" is a medley of colors
"bala" means color but also to tell, really, actually
and "balabala" is an idiom to tell off
"bala? " means "Is it really so? "

In other African languages "balabala"
means street or highway in Lingala
a language where peace is "botoboto"
"balabala" means babbling jabber gibberish in Setwana or Tswana
and to be loose or not tightly screwed in Woleaian
sky, cloud, rain in Glavda of Nigeria

Across the ocean in Western Fijian
"balabala" means hasten or hurry
and in the Fijian of the island of Fiji
"balabala" is cycas revoluta, a tree fern
a kind of palm fern the heart of which is eaten in times of scarcity

In the Tagalog of the Philippines
"balabala" is an idiom for pretense or make-believe
whereas in Ilokano also of the Philippines
it means thought, idea, guess, conjecture,
surmise, apprehension and misgiving

"Balabala" can be written in different ways
in Sanskrit बलाबल means at one time strong at another weak
strength and weakness
with relative strength or power or weight
highness or dignity or importance

While in China "Balabala" is a leading children's clothing brand
written 巴拉巴拉 and sounds more like "barabara"
"nagbunga ti balabala na"
means his idea came to fruition
in Japanese where there is no "L" sound
"barabara" means chaotic, all over the place

And in the Buhutu of Papua New Guinea
"balabala" means "push oneself forward
or to crowd
which we cannot do today
but we can enjoy a multitude of colors
around the world