A Spoken Word piece performed in English and Tigrinya in response to the question "What is the meaning of your name?"
Created as a part of the BBC Words First Showcase with Neu!Reekie! 2020, this piece explores themes of legacy, heritage and culture. In particular, how we carry the names of our fathers, yet our mothers are rarely remembered. This piece is a celebration of their names, some of the women in Feven's own lineage, both past and present as well as speaking in the mother tongue.
The name, ፈቨን [Feven]
Though said to have become popular
In post independent days,
Still sears through the page
With its depth
And richness in history.
ፈቨን:: [Feven]. They say it could be translated
As Phoebe in Greek
A goddess of oracle and prophecy,
But the layers of meaning
Unfold
Pristine,
When seen
From the names
ሞቦኮል:: [Baptism/Beginning].
ለተስላሴ [Letiselassie]
ስላሰ ብሰለስተ [Selassie like Seleste]
ሰለስተ [Seleste] meaning three
ሞሎኮትም ሃደ [Spirit Unified]
Trine of the forces that be
One with the air
And the earth beneath my feet,
Formulating B.A.S.S.
Rooted
in the family tree.
I trace
ከመይ ኢሉ ዘልዓል [How it is raised]
In the extension of every branch,
From the inner most phloem
To the outer strips of bark.
Connecting each facet
to the sum of its parts,
ፈቨን :: [Feven.]
meaning messenger
A conduit in projecting speech.
በታሪኽ [historically] seen as divinity,
Helping Apostle Poulos
Profess what he needs to preach
Found in the books
That make up Romans 16,
ፈቨን :: [Feven.]
Born to a lineage
of healers
and radiant Queens
ኣልማዝ [Almaz]
ነገሰት [Negeset]
ኒግስቲ [Nigisti]
ኣብርሀት [Abrehet]
ተበርህ [Tebereh]
ዘውዲ [Zewdi]
ሉላ [Lula]
ኢታይ ብርሃኑ [Etay Berhanu]
ገርግስ [Gergis]
ደመት [D'mt]
ብግምት ኢንዲሕር ክይድና [All taken into consideration]
ብኩሉ አዩ ፉሉት [Every aspect shows the apparent]
ኢዘን ኣደታት [Our mothers]
ዝገብሮኦ ጸሎት [With prayers made]
መረት የንከትክት [Shakes the ground with quakes ]
Who loved us, their children
no matter what it took.
Our mothers of mothers
At times
needing to survive
on ጸበል [holy water] sipped.
Finding dignity within
despite conditions being squalid.
ደመን ንጹህ [Bloodline sincere]
ልበን ጽሩይ [Hearts beating clear]
The seeds finally reaped
A culmination of their dreams,
The final form taken
woven into the prayers they speak.
Whispered silently into waters
So their tears are not seen,
ውዳሰ ማርያም [Veneration of Mother Mary] in the morning
ምህልላ [Prayer Beads] before they sleep
So
I say their names
As they did for me too
Like a mantra that is exuding my truth.
I say their names
and I say their ዓዲ [Motherland] too,
Till I make sure
That they are repeated
In my history books.