Ndugu yangu, rafiki yangu, kamaradi Harubu:

Sitaomboleza kifo chako;
Sitatoa salamu za rambirambi.
Tumelia vya kutosha,
Tumehuzunika vya kutosha.
Tumesononeka, tumelalamika:
Ewe Muumba,
Kwa nini unatupora watu wetu wema?
Kwa nini?
Eti ulimpenda zaidi ya sisi,
Kwani upendo wetu una kikomo?

Sasa basi:
Mamia tumekutana Nkrumah,
Maelfu wametega masikio,
Moshi, Miatu na Mbezi.
Sio kuomboleza, wala kulia, wala kulalamika.
Bali kusherehekea.
Kusherehekea maisha yako,
Fikra zako,
Msimamo wako.

Kusherehekea maisha yako, Harubu,
Mwana wa Miraji,
Mwana wa Zanzibar na Tanzania,
Mwana wa Afrika.

Tunasherehekea fikra zako,
Tunatamani kuchota kutoka busara zako,
Hekima yako,
Mtazamo wako.

Fikra zako za uungwana,
Fikra zako za ukombozi,
Ukombozi wa wanyonge,
Ukombozi wa mwana wa Adamu.

Fikra zako zisizotingisika,
Kupinga dhuluma na ufisadi na ubeberu.
Fikra zako za kutetea,
Haki za wanyonge.

Harubu, umetoweka bila kutuaga.
Hatulalamiki, hatukulaumu.
Kwani, kila pumzi la uhai wako,
Ulikuwa na ujumbe na nasaha.

Enyi makamaradi, wana wa harakati.
Katika medani ya mapambano,
Hakuna kuaga wala kuagana.
Hakuna muda,
Hakuna anasa,
Ya porojo za kuaga na kuagana.

La kesho, tendeni leo.
La siku, tekelezeni kwa saa.
Mapambano sio lelemama.
Ukombozi sio usanii.

Buriani ndugu yangu,
Rafiki yangu,
Kamaradi Ho.
Kwa heri za kuonana.

~~~

Harubu—Farewell to a friend Haroub Othman

My brother, my friend, Comrade Harubu:

I mourn not your death;
I give no condolences.
We have cried enough,
We have agonised enough.
We have grieved, we have complained:
O Creator,
Why are you robbing us of our good people?
Why?
So, it is that you loved him more than we,
As if our love has a limit?

Now then:
Hundreds of us met at Nkrumah,
Thousands lent their ears,
Moshi, Miatu and Mbezi.
Not mourning, nor crying, nor grumbling.
But celebrating.
Celebrating your life,
Your thoughts,
Your stand.

To celebrate your life, Harubu
Son of Miraji,
Son of Zanzibar and Tanzania,
Son of Africa.

We celebrate your thoughts,
We wish to draw from your wisdom,
Your sagacity,
Your outlook.

Your thoughts of chivalry,
Your thoughts of liberation,
Liberation of the weak,
Liberation of Adam’s children.

Your unshakeable thoughts,
Resisting tyranny and corruption and imperialism.
Your thoughts on the defence,
Of the rights of the weak.

Harubu, you disappeared without a goodbye.
We are not complaining, we are not blaming you.
For, each breath of your life,
Had a message and counsel.

O comrades, freedom fighters.
In the arena of liberation,
There is no farewell nor parting.
No time,
No luxury,
Of the chitchat of farewell and parting.

Never defer to tomorrow, that of today.
Never take a day, to do that of an hour.
The fight is not a dinner party.
Liberation struggles are not jokes.

Farewell my brother,
My friend,
Comrade Ho.
Till we meet again.

July 15, 2009