There are poems that accompany rhythmic work. This would include chores such as
paddling. Threshing, digging or hauling. In recent times work poems have also bee observed
among road workers, miners and boulders.
The following is an example of a work song
Pounding song
At Kitilis there are herdsmen, both boys and girls,
There are goats and lambs and cattle:
Mwesya, do I not call yo u in my poverty?
I have no family, I have no mother,
I have no relatives to call upon.
Death, I will not give him foo d o r water
Seeing he has denied me my father and my family.
E! Grinding!
Musyoka,
I have no family, I have no mother,
The mother of my sister Vika, Lonza and Linda;
Ho w forlorn I am! Did I call you?
I do not share the sleeping mat with Lonza.
Ho w forlorn I am, I have no thing of my own!
(source: Jack Mapanje and Landeg White. Oral poetry from Africa, Long man: New York, 1983.)