Remembering West African Verse

To those who schooled in Africa, do you remember reading "West African Verse as part of your literature subject? There were poems which the teacher instructed us to learn by heart. Some of the poems were...

Africa - David Diop

The Vultures  David Diop

The one I remember vividly was Viaticum Birago Diop...

In one of the three jugs 

The three jugs where on certain evenings return 

the tranquil souls

the breaths of the ancestors, 

the ancestors who were men, 

the ancestors who were sages, 

Mother has dipped three fingers 

three fingers of her left hand: 

thumb, forefinger and middle finger 

I have dipped three fingers 

three fingers of my right hand: 

thumb, forefinger and middle finger. 

With her three fingers red with blood,

with dog's blood,

with bull's blood,

with goat's blood,

Mother has touched me three times.

She touched my forehead with her thumb,

with her forefinger my left breast

and my navel with her middle finger.

I have held out my fingers red with blood,

with dog's blood,

with bull's blood,

with goat's blood,

I have held my three fingers to the winds

the north wind, the east wind,

the south wind, the west wind; 

and I have raised my three fingers towards the Moon 

towards the full Moon, the full, naked Moon 

when she was at the bottom ofthe biggest jug. 

I have thrust my three fingers into the sand, 

into the sand which had grown cooL 

Mother said: "Go through the World, go 

in Life. They will follow thy traces." 

Since then I go, 

I go by the tracks and on the roads, 

beyond the seas and further still 

beyond the sea and further, further still, 

beyond the sea and beyond the place beyond. 

And when I come to the wicked men, 

the black-hearted men, 

when I come to the envious, 

the black-hearted men, 

before me advance the breaths of the forefathers.