IN THE WORDS OF MUSURUKUTU Poem by Ruy Duarte de Carvalho

named king by the Mucubais to make war and who, having escaped
what was the hospital of Lubango, was never heard from again.
They made me king to run the war
and I invested myself
with the blood of the race.

I lost my kingdom and the grace of peace
in which I reigned without being elected.
The war is lost:
to find me now
you have to look for the shepherd.

As a shepherd
it makes no sense to be a king, and to be part of life
is to depend on the rain
and not the mandate.

Would that my escape
not worry you.
I don't run away to reign
rather to have
the sun once again at hand
and the sour milk.