SUFI POETRY IN SOMALI

the eyes of the poet who composed it. I realize that

such a way of handling the material introduces an element

of subjectivity and to remedy this I have provided at the

end of Part Three a conspectus of themes as they occur in

the individual poems.

The imagery of the poems is treated separately from

their themes. Such treatment reflects and emphasizes

an essential characteristic of the Sufi poetry in Somali:

while the themes derive from Islamic theological and moral

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doctrines which came from outside into Somali culture, most

of the imagery of this po~try is drawn from the pure

indigenous Somali sources and is closely linked with the

great heritage of Somali secular poetry.

A Somali oral poem often does not have a title and to

identify it people choose one particular line or phrase

(not necessarily the first one) which they regard as

characteristic of the whole poe~. I have followed this

practice and have provided all the poems in Part Three

which originally had no titles with such title-substitutes.

I have given such title-substitutes to all the poems

except Texts 1, '8,9, 10 and 2~.

A number of the examples in Part Two are reproduced

from my own memorj. Such material is marked thus: [A.Y.M.].

I