Part of a set of illustrations based on the concept of the Ouroboros – a symbol of a dragon eating its own tail, reflecting the eternal cycle of life and death. One simply can not exist without the other.
The earliest Swahili poet of note whose works have survived to the present day is Fumo Liyongo. Dating his life and work, and hence dating the emergence of the Swahili language itself from its Arabic origins, have been a matter of considerable…