If You Could - Assamala Amoi

If you could leave when work was done

Like the sun at the end of its day;

If you could arrive like the day and the night

At an hour chosen by the seasons;

If you could hear the farewells like the tree

Listens to the song of the migrating bird

– who would dread departures, returns and death?

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Assamala Amoi (born 1960) Cote d'Ivoire [born in France but left at age 6]

Translator not stated, possibly the author

Source: The African Book Review