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The night-jar and Inkosazana Yasezulwini
by Chris Mann
1 The speckled bird as brown as dust 19 ‘There, the Princess of Heavens,
2 which roosts inside a bush by day, 20 beside her dark as honey feet,
3 hiding its head against the glare, 21 gathers up the dreams which reach her
4 at midnight pecked against the pane, 22 and stooping to her woven pots
5 and gently pecked, until I saw 23 rinses them in rainbow water,
6 the starlight glitter through its beak. 24 and stores them with the morning mist.
7 On calm and tender summer nights, 25 ‘Go, waking sleeper, call to her,
8 when fishes bite the wobbling moon, 26 and wading through the icy stream
9 and moths rise to silvery fruit, 27 in which the golden pebbles shine,
10 sprinkling the space among the boughs, 28 ask her if her power is love,
11 it wakes and glides from sill to sill 29 for she is old as she is young,
12 across the worn-out, curtained town. 30 and without her, no one dreams.’
13 It shook the sandman from my sight, 31 She leaned against a leafless tree
14 and when the tar-bound slope had turned 32 on which a crown of crimson burned,
15 to bush and rocky hill it said, 33 and then the hill began to dim,
16 ‘There is a grass-house in the hills, 34 and standing in the greying rocks,
17 above the coast where sugar spumes, 35 I heard the nightjar fade, from sill
18 and lilies sprout, and no storms fly. 36 to sill, across the widowed town.
• Speckled - covered or marked with a large number of small spots or patches of colour.
• Glare - shine with a strong or dazzling light.
• Pecked - (of a bird) strike or bite something with its beak.
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• Wobbling - move or cause to move unsteadily from side to side.
• Boughs - main branches of a tree
• Sill - a ledge or sill forming the bottom part of a window,
• Sandman fictional man supposed to make children sleep by sprinkling sand in their eyes.
• Spumes - froth or foam, especially that found on waves.
• Sprout - (of a plant) put out shoots.
• Woven - interlaced long threads passing in one direction with others at a right angle to them.
• Wading - walk with effort through water or another liquid or viscous substance.
• Pebbles - a small stone made smooth and round by the action of water or sand
crimson - a rich deep red colour
ESSAY TYPE QUESTION:
The night-jar can be admired. Discuss your view.
Yes.
• The night-jar is a messenger who brings hope to people.
• Not only does the night-jar wakes the people up but it also leads them to a solution
• When it has done its job it goes away, it is not bothersome, and it does not linger on.
No.
• It cannot be admired because it disturbs people who are sleeping.
• Not everyone believes in mythology, the Princess of Heavens could be a fictitious being that does not help people in real life.
• It imposes itself on people and gives unsolicited advice.
