As your first wife,
…
I have only one request
…
Buy clothes for the woman
With whom I share you
…
When you gained your full strength
I have only one request,
And all I ask is
That you remove the road block
From my path.
Here is my bow-harp
Let me sing greetings to you,
…
Let me praise you
…
Let me dance before you,
My love,
Let me show you
The wealth in your house,
Ocol my husband,
Son of the Bull,
Let no one uproot the pumpkin. (SoL, 123)
That is Lawino at her best as a medical practitioner, ritual advisor, intercessor on behalf of her relatives, of Ocol and the entire black peoples, kind hearted woman who cares for her husband’s concubine whom she partially acknowledged as ‘the woman with whom I share you’ after totally discrediting her in Section Two of her Song. She has humbled herself by politely requesting Ocol to let her sing one praise song and dance for him as this might bring a change of heart partly because the cleansing ritual will restore Ocol’s manhood and she will have a fully functional husband. However, the last words in Song are the proverbial warning: ‘Let no one uproot the pumpkin.’
Conclusion
In his polemic writings and essays (which I have not dealt with here), Okot discusses Acoli aesthetics and religion, and presents detailed treaties on Man and his place in the world. The best collections of his essays are in one collection: Artist the Ruler: Essays on Art, Culture and Values (1988). Here Okot argues, with examples, that the Artist is the ruler through his poetic and artistic creations.