I come to her house for love with a basket of red petals
Men-friend tell me what a fool to go to the girl
Come, man, come fish shark, strong white shark
At midnight come fish golden snapper along the warm black
rocks
But I decide my mind and come to her for love
Her dress is patterned with blue dragon-flies
She has put a red bead in each ear
Green lizards run in her eves
Her body has the scent of sun-dried khus-khus grass
The sweet fibres she has put between the linen since midday
She has washed her mouth with milk
She has rubbed her lips with bay leaves
She has made her limbs clean with water from a green
calabash
Now she offers me a few plums and palm-wine from a gourd of scarlet leather.
