The sun’s tongue - Rec Puk

Jiok’s hide is as bright as moonlight,

bright as the sun’s tongue.

My Jiok shines like gold,

like a man’s ivory bracelet.

We keep handsome oxen,

Mac Nyeth’s son and I.

Puoc and I keep the black and white ones,

we sit with the finest animals.

He keeps the timid, black-eared ox,

the one that bellows.

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Rec Puk (20th century) South Sudan

Translated by Terese Svoboda

Source: Sudan Open Archive: Cleaned the Crocodile's Teeth, Translated by Terese Svoboda, Greenfield Review Press, 1985