Mame - Fatou Dioffé Bâ

Grandfather, last of my Fathers,
My luck, my hope, my essence,
Tell me about my roots, tell me about my rooted self.
Oh Father, how much I wished from you!

Leave, let these words flow from my story.
I know you: rich, rich of the Massasis,
Rich of Sénéfobougou^*, rich, oh that rich!
Mame, say, who are my mames?

You are the last, the holder, the salvation.
Let us reform the kingdom of the Massassis,
The lineage of the Coulibaly, translate for me the Bambara.
That I can compare these words to
these feelings inked deep within me.
Reveal to me my past, lift the veil.
May my eyes see,
My ears Hear,
My skin, Feel
My nose, Smell:
May I Be.

Oh Father, tell me about your fathers!
I dreamed so much, hoped so much,
Then resigned myself.
And you have come out of nowhere, everywhere,
beautiful unexpected, spectacular rebirth, what a hope!
You wear, you symbolise, oh Father!
Let me touch you! Are you there?
Oh Father!
I hold you, stay upright, as much as you can, and better, forever.
Guide the family to his kingdom, to his throne.
Give it back its hour of glory.
Stay, Father.
And dig again and again, find the story
Des Coulibaly Massassi.

---

Fatou Dioffé Bâ (born 1988) Senegal
Translated using Google translate and some additional changes by Bruce Levitan
Source: Badilisha Poetry
* Sénéfobougou is the name of a district in Sor, in Saint-Louis, Senegal; the other names are ancestral names.