Ay Ay Ay de la Grifa Negra - Julia de Burgos

Ay ay ay, that I’m kinky-haired and pure black;

kinky hair, Kafir lips

and my flat nose Mozambiques.

Black of untouched tint, I cry and laugh

the vibration of being a black statue;

a chunk of night, in which my white

teeth are lightning;

and to be a black vine

tangled up in the black

and curving the black nest

in which the raven lies.

Black chunk of black in which I sculpt myself,

ay, ay, ay, my statue is all black.

They tell me that my grandfather was the slave

for whom the master paid thirty coins.

Ay, ay, ay, that the slave was my grandfather

is my sorrow, is my sorrow.

If he had been the master

it would be my shame:

that in men, as in nations,

if being the slave is having no rights

being the master is having no conscience.

Ay, ay, ay, wash the sins of the white King

in forgiveness black Queen.

Ay, ay, ay, the race escapes me

and towards the white race buzzes and flies,

to sink in its clear water;

or perhaps the white will be shadowed in the black.

Ay, ay, ay, my black race flees

and with the white runs to become bronzed;

to be the one for the future,

fraternity of America!

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Julia de Burgos [Julia Constanza Burgos Garcia] (1914 – 1953) Puerto Rico

Translated by Marta Maldonado

Source: dis/content Vol 3 Issue 3 Dec 2000