Literatura Obscura (Watera Spirita) Poem by William Waterway

One of the more obscure
words in American English
is
'Simbi'
used in Georgia islands
and nearby coastal regions
Simbi means the same
in English, Cuban Spanish,
Brazilian Portuguese,
Haitian Creole
and
Kikongo

July Ann of Mississippi
a slave in the early
Nineteenth Century
was recorded as she
sang praise to Simbi

'I was baptized in the Tangipaho River
right here in Osyka
an' all de folks was a shoutin'
and I went down in de water
shoutin'
I tell yo' I neber was so happy
as I was dat day
an I been a good Christian woman
eber since I was baptized in de name of Simbi
de Lord an' his spirit tells me
I am gwine to meet my Maker
shoutin' Simbi.'