USOIM - Life is a Wheel

Jua linapanda

Maisha yanazunguka

(ahh) We begin again

Morning opens every hand

Dust turns gold beneath our feet

Children learn the old ones' songs

Roots hold firm in summer heat

Every ending feeds the ground

Every seed becomes a tree

And when the rain comes down

We raise our faces high

What falls to earth will rise

In another sky

Round we go, river to sea

Hand to hand, you and me

Life is a wheel,

turning us home We are the fire,

we are the stone Maisha

yanazunguka We rise, we fall,

we carry on

Grandmother laughs by the cooking flame

A newborn cries into the day

Names are passed like woven cloth

Love finds another shape

Tunatembea pamoja

No one walks alone

The river knows which way to run

The stars return when light is gone

We trace the path our mothers walked

And keep our lanterns shining on Through every valley,

dark and deep

A promise that we choose to keep

And when the shadow fades

We see the light ahead

The road we build today

Is where our children tread

Round we go, river to sea

Hand to hand, you and me

Life is a wheel,

turning us home We are the fire,

we are the stone Maisha yanazunguka

We rise, we

fall, we carry on

If I am only passing through

Let me leave a little bread

Let me plant a kinder word

For the feet ahead

Round we go, river to sea

Hand to hand, you and me Life is a wheel,

turning us home We are the fire,

we are the stone Maisha yanazunguka We rise,

we fall, we carry on (oh)

We carry on

Round we go, river to sea

Hand to hand, you and me Life is a wheel,

turning us home We are the fire,

we are the stone Maisha yanazunguka

We rise, we fall,

we carry on We carry on

to the end Jua linapanda

Maisha yanazunguka

We

begin again