I've gone - I come - Trefossa

if the dry season wind starts singing
in Mahogany Street:
- Creole, how?
I'll answer:
- here am I
- granny's bench has been set ready
- once upon a time ... once upon a time ...

if the dry season wind starts singing
in the cotton-tree:
- Creole, how?
I'll answer:
- here am I
- Eifel Tower is much higher,
- but has no spirits, has no spirits ...

if the dry season wind starts singing
in Big Tree of Bose:
- Creole, how?
I'll answer:
- here am I
- Sister Mary, potatoes are all right,
- but your cake is just the best ...

I've gone - I come,
the sea is wide,
say the words,
you all my friends,
say the words.
I've gone,
I come ...

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Trefossa (pen name of Henri Frans de Ziel) (1916 – 1975) Suriname
Translated by Jan Voorhoeve
Source: ‘Varieties of Creole in Suriname. The Art of Reading Creole Poetry', Jan Voorhoeve, in: Dell Hymes (red.), Pidginization and Creolization of Languages. Proceedings of a Conference held at the
University of the West Indies, Mona, Jamaica, April 1968 Cambridge University Press, Cambridge
1971, p. 323-326.