WOMBA, a Poem by Eric Ngalle Charles

Eric Ngalle Charles speaks to Marie Gillespie for International Migrants Day about his poem 'Womba', which is about memory, migration and his mother.  

"Womba is a Bakweri term, my mother tongue, meaning the smiles of a sleeping child. This poem was inspired by Gillian Clarke when she visited us at our writers work tent at the Hay Festival, May 2018. She advised us to revisit one childhood memory, for Gillian it was a rug, for me, it was a sound. I dedicate this poem in both English and Welsh to migrants around the world on International Migrants Day 2021."  

Welsh translations by Suzy Fenandes dos Santos.

The poem with the Welsh translation by the National poet of Wales as first published in 'The 3 Molas': https://www.amazon.co.uk/3-Molas-Mike...