The Verso Book of Dissent by Andrew Hsiao & Andrew Hsiao & Audrea Lim

Author:Andrew Hsiao & Andrew Hsiao & Audrea Lim
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Verso Books

1945

LEOPOLD SENGHOR

“The Message”

I left my warm meal and the handling of many disputes.

Wearing nothing more than a pagne for the dewy mornings,

I had only words of peace as protection and to open every road.

And I too traversed rivers and forests full of dangers

Where vines hung more treacherous than snakes.

I went among people who would easily let fly a poisoned greeting.

But I held on the sign of recognition

And the spirits watched over my breath.

I saw the ashes of burned-out barracks and royal homes.

And under the mahogany trees we exchanged long speeches

And ceremonial gifts.

And I arrived at Elissa, the nest of falcons

Defying the pride of Conquerors.

I saw once again the old dwelling on the hill,

A village of long and lowering eyelashes.

I recited the message to the Guardian of our Blood:

The diseases the ruined trade, organized hunts,

And bourgeois decorum and the unlubricated scorn

Swilling the bellies of the slaves.

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