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Moon-faced cynical egos

Hate spreads its wings in the alleys / Where humans knock about aimlessly

  • Tanella Boni
  • Fall 2020
Illustration by Olivia Healy
  • Poem
  • Protest

Translated from the French by Todd Fredson. Scroll down to read the original poem.

The hatred of the other flows unimpeded
Mother’s sister’s brother is gone
There’s no father’s uncle’s neighbor
The image of foreigner floats in the air
Sowing panic in hearts
The eyes that watch another’s so closely
See the devil sitting at his side

Hate spreads its wings in the alleys
Where humans knock about aimlessly 
The bad wind rises it lowers its head  
It recoils for a moment then flings from the ashes
I don’t know what rain will extinguish the flame
That devours kinships that took such time to weave

Times are troubled and darkening
The houses won’t stand for long
At the beginning of the coming flood
I don’t know where we are
Humans with injured memories
Butt against some wall of bitterness
They need to rest just a place without threat
To recover the reason that has gone

Where are the wise in this land
Who leave again at this tilt    
Do they know this horrible game
Played by cynical egos
With full moon faces


Ego cyniques aux visages de lune

La haine de l’autre coule de source
Il n’y a plus de frère de sœur de mère
Il n’y a plus de voisin d’oncle de père
L’image de l’étranger flotte dans l’air
Et sème la panique dans les cœurs 
L’œil qui regarde l’autre œil si proche
Voit le diable assis à ses côtés

La haine déploie ses ailes dans les ruelles 
Où les humains ont perdu le sens du chemin
Le mauvais vent se lève il avance tête baissée
Il recule un instant puis renait de ses cendres 
J’ignore quelle pluie viendra éteindre la flamme
Qui dévore les liens qui ont mis du temps à se tisser

Les temps se troublent et s’assombrissent
Les maisons ne résisteront pas longtemps
Aux prémisses du déluge qui s’annonce
Je ne sais plus où nous en sommes
Les humains aux mémoires blessées
Butent contre le mur de l’amertume
Ils ont besoin de paix juste un carré de paix
Pour protéger la raison qui les abandonne

Où sont donc les sages dans ce pays  
Qui part encore à la dérive
Ont-ils conscience du mauvais jeu
Que jouent les égos cyniques
Aux visages de pleine lune


  • africa african poetry ivory coast politics power translation war

Tanella Boni

Tanella Boni is one of the most prominent figures in modern African literature. Born in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, she did her advanced studies in France, returning to Côte d’Ivoire as a professor of philosophy. She served as president of the Writers’ Association of Côte d’Ivoire from 1991 to 1997. Boni’s 2004 novel, Matins de couvre-feu (Mornings after curfew) received the Ahmadou Kourouma Prize. In 2009 she won the Antonio Viccaro International Poetry Prize. Her poetry collection, Là où il fait si clair en moi / There where it’s so bright in me, won the 2018 Prix Théophile Gautier from the French Academy. 

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