Mohammed Khelef Ghassani was born in 1977 on the island of Pemba, Zanzibar. He studied translation at the Open University of Tanzania, where he received a master's degree in 2014. He now works as a reporter and editor of the broadcasting company Deutsche Welle in Bonn, Germany. He is the author of seven previous collections of poetry in Swahili. Meg Arenberg is a scholar and translator with specializations in Anglophone African, Indian Ocean, and Swahili literatures. Her work has won recognition from the American Comparative Literature Association and the American Literary Translators Association.

"This beautiful translation introduces to an English reading audience Mohammed Ghassani's captivating poetry. It is representative of new, young, confident, patriotic, hopeful, and vibrant voices currently emerging out of a long tradition of Kiswahili verse. This is a daring voice very much worth listening to."—Abdilatif Abdalla, Kenyan political activist, author of Sauti ya Dhiki (Voice of Agony), and retired teacher of Kiswahili language and African literature at the University of Leipzig"The journeys Mohammed Ghassani's poetry beautifully takes raise questions about home: Is it a place that only poetry can find? Is it a road map back home or is poetry itself the destination, our final home? In Meg Arenberg's translation is home to be found in many languages? And for the reader, do you now see you live in many homes? Come to Ghassani's poetry all packed and prepared, with your arms wide open ready to embrace your many selves. Home here is a train traveling faster than the speed of light to all destinations at the same time."—Mukoma Wa Ngugi, cofounder of the Safal-Cornell Kiswahili Prize for African Literature and author of Logotherapy

• Translator’s NoteAuthor’s IntroductionI Have a HomeToo ManyIn the Name of My CountryShe Is Called ZanzibarThe Lord TakethReceive This TearI RememberDreamIt’s Already in PiecesYour EqualI’m Coming HomeI’ve No Choice but to GoIt Will EndWe Have This TreeThe Voice of My CountryDon’t Make Me an OrphanThe Butterfly FishBut She Wasn’t the OneWe All Have Our EndZenj, My DearHow Can I Stop Crying?My Country Is BereavedDreams FlyIf Nurturing Is Beyond YouGreetings to My MothersAlhamdulillahWhat Goes Around ComesIf You Knew That I KnowDove, I Blame YouTears, SpillIf You Don’t Have It, You Don’t Have ItRelease MeWasted SoulA Pot Won’t Lack for SootThese Days I’ve MaturedWe People of This WorldWhen You Fear People You Don’t ActWhere Are They?Get Caught and Remember MeThe World Isn’t PleasurePopobawa Has ReturnedIsolation CradlesGenerosity Won’t Be RepaidLittle Half My HeartGiving and ReceivingBequestBe TolerantThis Is How I AmWhen a New Thing Becomes a WoundThe Choice That Can’t Be ChosenLife Is LoveMy Khadhira, Hush NowWe Will ArriveHow Can You Drink the Sauce First?The Hot Sun of NightPeacock in a CageThere’s No Growing Weary of GettingLove Is in the TeaseShoes Come in PairsTheir Country, Their TongueHome O HomeThe Pens Should RoamA Broad-Shouldered ManDon’t Desert Your CampI Am YoursI Don’t Need a SpectacleTake AdviceThis Is How They AreThe Way I Love YouToday’s Eater, What Does He Eat?Had It Been KnowableFor Whom Do You Wear It?My Children, Forgive MeI Won’t Blunt My KnifeAttacking the JinniWhere Are You, Joy?Some Things You Shouldn’t AskJudgment of ManIf Things Go BadI’m Afraid of Becoming LostThe Ones Who Search for YouBallotThe Bones of the MigrantsI Am a LeafWhile the Clay Is WetBuilding a House from AfarYou Are the Ones Who Love Me

Mohammed Khelef Ghassani was born in 1977 on the island of Pemba, Zanzibar. He studied translation at the Open University of Tanzania, where he received a master's degree in 2014. He now works as a reporter and editor of the broadcasting company Deutsche Welle in Bonn, Germany. He is the author of seven previous collections of poetry in Swahili. Meg Arenberg is a scholar and translator with specializations in Anglophone African, Indian Ocean, and Swahili literatures. Her work has won recognition from the American Comparative Literature Association and the American Literary Translators Association.

"This beautiful translation introduces to an English reading audience Mohammed Ghassani's captivating poetry. It is representative of new, young, confident, patriotic, hopeful, and vibrant voices currently emerging out of a long tradition of Kiswahili verse. This is a daring voice very much worth listening to."—Abdilatif Abdalla, Kenyan political activist, author of Sauti ya Dhiki (Voice of Agony), and retired teacher of Kiswahili language and African literature at the University of Leipzig"The journeys Mohammed Ghassani's poetry beautifully takes raise questions about home: Is it a place that only poetry can find? Is it a road map back home or is poetry itself the destination, our final home? In Meg Arenberg's translation is home to be found in many languages? And for the reader, do you now see you live in many homes? Come to Ghassani's poetry all packed and prepared, with your arms wide open ready to embrace your many selves. Home here is a train traveling faster than the speed of light to all destinations at the same time."—Mukoma Wa Ngugi, cofounder of the Safal-Cornell Kiswahili Prize for African Literature and author of Logotherapy

• Translator’s NoteAuthor’s IntroductionI Have a HomeToo ManyIn the Name of My CountryShe Is Called ZanzibarThe Lord TakethReceive This TearI RememberDreamIt’s Already in PiecesYour EqualI’m Coming HomeI’ve No Choice but to GoIt Will EndWe Have This TreeThe Voice of My CountryDon’t Make Me an OrphanThe Butterfly FishBut She Wasn’t the OneWe All Have Our EndZenj, My DearHow Can I Stop Crying?My Country Is BereavedDreams FlyIf Nurturing Is Beyond YouGreetings to My MothersAlhamdulillahWhat Goes Around ComesIf You Knew That I KnowDove, I Blame YouTears, SpillIf You Don’t Have It, You Don’t Have ItRelease MeWasted SoulA Pot Won’t Lack for SootThese Days I’ve MaturedWe People of This WorldWhen You Fear People You Don’t ActWhere Are They?Get Caught and Remember MeThe World Isn’t PleasurePopobawa Has ReturnedIsolation CradlesGenerosity Won’t Be RepaidLittle Half My HeartGiving and ReceivingBequestBe TolerantThis Is How I AmWhen a New Thing Becomes a WoundThe Choice That Can’t Be ChosenLife Is LoveMy Khadhira, Hush NowWe Will ArriveHow Can You Drink the Sauce First?The Hot Sun of NightPeacock in a CageThere’s No Growing Weary of GettingLove Is in the TeaseShoes Come in PairsTheir Country, Their TongueHome O HomeThe Pens Should RoamA Broad-Shouldered ManDon’t Desert Your CampI Am YoursI Don’t Need a SpectacleTake AdviceThis Is How They AreThe Way I Love YouToday’s Eater, What Does He Eat?Had It Been KnowableFor Whom Do You Wear It?My Children, Forgive MeI Won’t Blunt My KnifeAttacking the JinniWhere Are You, Joy?Some Things You Shouldn’t AskJudgment of ManIf Things Go BadI’m Afraid of Becoming LostThe Ones Who Search for YouBallotThe Bones of the MigrantsI Am a LeafWhile the Clay Is WetBuilding a House from AfarYou Are the Ones Who Love Me

Mohammed Khelef Ghassani was born in 1977 on the island of Pemba, Zanzibar. He studied translation at the Open University of Tanzania, where he received a master's degree in 2014. He now works as a reporter and editor of the broadcasting company Deutsche Welle in Bonn, Germany. He is the author of seven previous collections of poetry in Swahili. Meg Arenberg is a scholar and translator with specializations in Anglophone African, Indian Ocean, and Swahili literatures. Her work has won recognition from the American Comparative Literature Association and the American Literary Translators Association.

"This beautiful translation introduces to an English reading audience Mohammed Ghassani's captivating poetry. It is representative of new, young, confident, patriotic, hopeful, and vibrant voices currently emerging out of a long tradition of Kiswahili verse. This is a daring voice very much worth listening to."—Abdilatif Abdalla, Kenyan political activist, author of Sauti ya Dhiki (Voice of Agony), and retired teacher of Kiswahili language and African literature at the University of Leipzig"The journeys Mohammed Ghassani's poetry beautifully takes raise questions about home: Is it a place that only poetry can find? Is it a road map back home or is poetry itself the destination, our final home? In Meg Arenberg's translation is home to be found in many languages? And for the reader, do you now see you live in many homes? Come to Ghassani's poetry all packed and prepared, with your arms wide open ready to embrace your many selves. Home here is a train traveling faster than the speed of light to all destinations at the same time."—Mukoma Wa Ngugi, cofounder of the Safal-Cornell Kiswahili Prize for African Literature and author of Logotherapy

• Translator’s NoteAuthor’s IntroductionI Have a HomeToo ManyIn the Name of My CountryShe Is Called ZanzibarThe Lord TakethReceive This TearI RememberDreamIt’s Already in PiecesYour EqualI’m Coming HomeI’ve No Choice but to GoIt Will EndWe Have This TreeThe Voice of My CountryDon’t Make Me an OrphanThe Butterfly FishBut She Wasn’t the OneWe All Have Our EndZenj, My DearHow Can I Stop Crying?My Country Is BereavedDreams FlyIf Nurturing Is Beyond YouGreetings to My MothersAlhamdulillahWhat Goes Around ComesIf You Knew That I KnowDove, I Blame YouTears, SpillIf You Don’t Have It, You Don’t Have ItRelease MeWasted SoulA Pot Won’t Lack for SootThese Days I’ve MaturedWe People of This WorldWhen You Fear People You Don’t ActWhere Are They?Get Caught and Remember MeThe World Isn’t PleasurePopobawa Has ReturnedIsolation CradlesGenerosity Won’t Be RepaidLittle Half My HeartGiving and ReceivingBequestBe TolerantThis Is How I AmWhen a New Thing Becomes a WoundThe Choice That Can’t Be ChosenLife Is LoveMy Khadhira, Hush NowWe Will ArriveHow Can You Drink the Sauce First?The Hot Sun of NightPeacock in a CageThere’s No Growing Weary of GettingLove Is in the TeaseShoes Come in PairsTheir Country, Their TongueHome O HomeThe Pens Should RoamA Broad-Shouldered ManDon’t Desert Your CampI Am YoursI Don’t Need a SpectacleTake AdviceThis Is How They AreThe Way I Love YouToday’s Eater, What Does He Eat?Had It Been KnowableFor Whom Do You Wear It?My Children, Forgive MeI Won’t Blunt My KnifeAttacking the JinniWhere Are You, Joy?Some Things You Shouldn’t AskJudgment of ManIf Things Go BadI’m Afraid of Becoming LostThe Ones Who Search for YouBallotThe Bones of the MigrantsI Am a LeafWhile the Clay Is WetBuilding a House from AfarYou Are the Ones Who Love Me