Song for Almeyda and Song for Anninho by Gayl Jones

Author:Gayl Jones [Jones, Gayl]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Beacon Press
Published: 2022-05-15T00:00:00+00:00

2.

“He tore my necklace of seeds.”

“Who?”

“A soldier. One of them.”

“He had no name?”

“No. For me he had no name.

It is only you and the Palmaristas

who have names for me. In my chronicles,

not even their military chieftains will

have names. There’s no such one as Velho,

there’s no such one as Furtado do Mendoca

in the world! There are only Zumbi,

and Anninho, and Ganga Zumba and . . .”

“Ganga Zumba was a traitor.”

“Even our traitors have names.

But there is no one such as Velho!”

“But in denying their names,

you have given them names.”

“What is your name?”

“Almeyda.”

The Portuguese soldier tore my necklace

of seeds and shells and then he cut

off my breasts. He was without a name,

as I had no name for him.

This is an age that doesn’t allow names,

Anninho, only eyes.

All kinds of eyes.

All kinds of eyes, everything in them

but tenderness.

No place for tenderness.

Anger, hardness, madness only.

“What kind of seeds?”

“I don’t know their names.”

“Can they be eaten?”

“Yes. Didn’t you know that

in this world

anything can be eaten?”

And the love songs, Anninho.

Sing me a love song.

At first I thought it was an

age when we must leave the love songs behind,

or get new voices to

sing them.

In a new voice or the old one,

we must make our love songs.

Hear the birds.

They are making a racket, aren’t they?

They are all singing together.

They are trying to sing in one voice,

but one discordant voice,

one voice with many variations.

It is a difficult song they are singing.

It hurts my ears to hear them.

Why are they all trying to sing at once?

Why don’t they let me sleep,

just get a little sleep before we start

the long walk? This is the

kind of voice that can tear dreams apart

and make new ones.

“We must remake our voices, Anninho.

This is an age when the old voices won’t do.”

“Sing me a love song.”

“My voice is not ready.”

“When will it be ready?”

“I don’t know.”

“Sing me a love song.”

“I must wait.”

“Why should you be ashamed to sing to me?

It’s the others that should have been ashamed.”

“Yes.”

“It is the others that should have covered

themselves in shame. Not our women.”

I remember when we came to each other,

and we both had heavy smiles, Anninho,

because this was not the time or place

for a man and woman, and so we bore heavy

smiles, it was no time for an easy smile,

and we came together without speaking,

because there were no words for such a time,

and we would not have known each other’s

voices even if we had spoken. It was a time

when a man and woman could not recognize

each other’s voices. Recognition came only

with a way of touching, a smell, and even

that was heavy and full of sweat. But we

recognized each other and we were somehow

smiling. We tightened our lips together

and our blood became one, our sweat became

one.

“Always wear your hair that way.”

“Do you like it?”

Hand on my waist.

Speak to me so close with a kiss.

I will make all my laughter a love song,

but it can only be a heavy laughter,

a laughter that takes up the sounds of

things I am not telling you, it can only

be that kind of laughter. And all those

things, Anninho, all those things my mouth

wouldn’t form.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.