John William Carnegie Kirk

John William Carnegie Kirk (1878-1962) was a British Army officer, and botanist working in South Africa and author of A British Garden Flora.

Biography

Kirk was commissioned a second lieutenant in The Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry on 18 October 1899, and promoted to lieutenant on 16 February 1901.Hart′s Army list, 1903 In August 1902 he was seconded for service under the Foreign Office,{{London Gazette |issue=27465 |date=15 August 1902|page=5332|supp=}} and transferred to the 3rd (East Africa) Battalion of the King's African Rifles.

=Geeraar for Sultan Nur=

File:Sultan Nuur 1896. Tuuyo Plain.jpg (centre) and Habar Yunis horsemen]]

During his time in British Somaliland he recorded many poems and translated accounts and stories in the Somali language and compiled them into a book. One of such poems was about a visit from the powerful Sultan Nur Ahmed Aman to the Habr Je'lo. The Habr Je'lo recited this geeraar praising Sultan Nur.{{cite book|title=A Grammar of the Somali Language: With Examples in Prose and Verse|page=171|year=1905|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=9781108013260|author=J.W.C. Kirk}}

{{Verse translation|lang=so-Latn|

Hali waa iga salaan

Halna wa iga sacab-qaad

Halna wa iga suaal

Hal wa i sacabqaad

wa i Suldaanka amaanti

Siraadki Berberad

iyo wa haldhaa subax joga

baalashi kala sidoo

wax la sisto la waa

Halna wa iga salan

Geela, Seenyo iyo Laan

Sangayaasha qararystay

Gabdhahaa suurta la moodo

iyo seyaxaanu ku jifna

Sadadaada nabad ba leh

|attr1= Habr Jelo Geeraar{{cite book|title=A Grammar of the Somali Language: With Examples in Prose and Verse|page=171|year=1905|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=9781108013260|author=J.W.C. Kirk}}|

First we salute thee

Then we shake your hands

Then we ask a question

First is our handshake

is praise to our Sultan

the light of Berbera

Who is as an ostrich standing in the morning

Shaking out his wings

beyond compare

Again we salute thee

The camels, Senyo and Lan,

The stallions have become fat