The fire the river that's to say
the sea to drink following the sand
the feet the hands
within the heart to love
this river that lives in me repeoples me
only to you I said around the fire
my race
it flows here and there a river
the flames are the looks
of those who brood upon it
I said to you
my race
remembers
the taste of bronze drunk hot.
Tchicaya U Tam’si (1931 - 1988) Democratic Republic of Congo
Translated by Gerald Moore and Ulli Beier
Source: Modern poetry from Africa, selected by by Gerald Moore and Ulli Beier, Penguin Books, 1963
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